Support to Eliminate Social Barriers For Widows

Widowhood and bereavement are a period of crisis in a woman's life. The death of a spouse takes a greater toll of a woman than it does a man. A widower is often economically independent. He does not face social stigma, nor does he feel the loss of a spouse as keenly as does a woman, for widowhood often changes the very self-identity of a woman. As far as a woman is concerned widowhood is considered a misfortune and a burden to be borne until her very death.

Many a time, not only the woman herself but also the entire society singles out the woman for causing the death of her husband. In traditional societies, especially in rural areas, widowhood is considered a curse brought about by some sin committed in one's past birth. A widow is shunned and ostracized as inauspicious.

Until recently, upper caste widows even had to suffer silently the indignity of being disfigured through tonsure and deprived of the right to wear good clothes, eat good food and adorn herself with ornaments, all in the name of being made unattractive to men. She was relegated to wearing coarse white or red sarees and being a total non-entity. The death of the husband, therefore, was not only a social calamity, but owing to illiteracy and ignorance, and a total lack of social support, a sure means of being deprived of one's inheritance. Several cases have also been reported where young widows were sexually exploited by male relatives since they were totally defenseless.

In Christianity and Islam widowhood is a non-issue and not considered a serious problem. Widows from these religious backgrounds do not face any social stigma or discrimination. They are also free to remarry. In Islam, in particular, marrying a widow was considered a form of social service to provide security for a woman. But, For a Hindu widow the period of widowhood meant not only the loss of a husband but life-long misery of pain, suffering and agony since a majority of them faced this situation in the evening of their lives. This is a period, which heralds the onset of old age accompanied by its psycho-physical problems.

To face loneliness and sociocultural discrimination during this period when they are marginalized and reduced to the status of a non-entity, only causes more acute health problems. Hindus do not tolerate the remarriage of women, although no such barriers exist for widowers. Though India is already on the way to modernization, with women playing a leading role in several walks of life, (a person like Mrs. Indira Gandhi having been the Prime Minister for more than 16 years), the plight of destitute women in general, and that of widows in particular, has hardly changed. In this context Brinda Karat of the All India Democratic Women's Association observes: "In India, where a woman's identity is determined by her appendage to a male, widowhood has a much larger dimension than losing a husband."