[Snerfling]

Dowery were assets given to the husband

Would you rather be given $1m up front or have a wife who can earn $100k/yr for 30yrs? There's quite a lot of women graduating from top colleges that are available to equally educated men.

[longtermmemmory]

If the husband owned the wife you would have a point. However, dowery was (and is) given outright to the husband. It is his.

What you are arguing is the value of a wife as a finacial asset to the husbands job of being the breadwinner. Two different aspects.