Public Project
Widowhood
Summary
In some cultures, being a widow has meant exile, vulnerability, and abuse but bereaved women are beginning to fight back.
In India, stigmas around widows are deeply rooted in Hinduism. Some believe if a woman is pure and faithful enough she will keep her husband from death itself - ostensibly blaming a woman for her husband’s death. In the most extreme, widows threw themselves on their husband’s funeral pyre. This practice known as Sati, was outlawed in the early 1800’s, but the expectation for widows to live the remainder of their lives in mourning has continued in some communities. Today, thousands of India’s 40 million widows seek refuge in India’s holy cities like Vrindavan and Varanasi where they carry out a life sentence: shaving their heads, wearing white, and never remarrying. However, younger generations are rejecting these expectations and one can see a shift taking place. One ashram recently threw a party for India’s Holi festival and The Times of India reported, “They sang and danced, laughed and shed tears. They threw flowers at each other and played with gulal. The widows of Vrindavan celebrated Holi with a riot of colours - defying tradition that bids them to stay away from festivities of all kinds.” In Uganda, and many other regions in Africa, a woman does not traditionally have inheritance rights so when her husband dies his family often comes to claim everything: the land, her home - and sometimes her children. International Justice Mission (IJM) decided to tackle the problem in one district outside Kampala where 3 in 5 widows experience what is known as “Property Grabbing.” Uganda has an extremely equitable and progressive constitution that protects a woman’s right to inherit and IJM recognized education was the problem. Since 2007 they have infiltrated the district, training everyone in the legal system - from village policemen, to local leaders to judges. The situation is starting to change.
In 2011 the United Nations recognized the condition of widows as a global issue and declared June 23 International Widows’ Day with a statement from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, "No woman should lose her status, livelihood or property when her husband dies, yet millions of widows in our world face persistent abuse, discrimination, disinheritance and destitution.”
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