Daughters, as the human capital of a family, are transferred through marriage. Benefiting from the Foucauldian views, this paper elucidates the most contested terms in current Iranian marriage discourse, mehriyeh and shir-baha. Mehriyeh/ dower, “[the price of] love”, and shir-baha, “the price of breast-feeding”, are paid by the side of bridegroom and his parents. Named after the maternal human capital, shir-baha is a financial support for dowry. Mehriyeh--property or gold coins, is granted upon the request of the wife, in an exchange for the human capital she represents, the love she devotes to the house, husband, and children. In the 21st century Iran, numerous memes, sketch comedies, and dramas address mehriyeh and shir-baha with contempt. Recently, the parliament passed a law limiting the amount of mehriyeh. Though viewed as a price for the exchange of human capital, shir-baha and mehriyeh, are assistance program for single mothers if the marriage dissolves. I aim to problematize how Capital is ‘hu(w)man capital’ in domestic sphere. I start with Persian classic poetry as the background, to elaborate on shir-baha/ mehriyeh in modern Iranian cinema, a ground for power play where patriarchy and the newly emerged class of powerful women meet.

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