Laws and Cultural Pressures Condemn Some Widows to Poverty
Discrimination against widows in many countries is a hidden problem that dooms the women and their families to a life of poverty.
Cherie Blair, the wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, set out to shine a spotlight on cultural traditions and laws that discriminate against widows in an op-ed published today in the New York Times. She is identified in the article as a human rights lawyer who is president of Loomba Trust, which advocates for widows and their children.
In rural areas of Nepal and India, widows are expected to hide from men for the rest of their lives, she writes. In Afghanistan, widows are not allowed to work. In Tanzania, the legal system makes it difficult for them to inherit their husband’s property.
“The result is that many widows and their children are kicked out of their homes, forced to live in abject poverty on the fringes of society, and are prey to abuse, violence and sexual exploitation,” she writes. “With no money to pay for education, the children of widows are pulled out of school. With no education, these children are doomed to spend their lives in the most menial of jobs, if they can find work at all.”
