23.6.23
Widow
is a woman whose husband has died and who has not married again. The ordinary
term for a widow in India is ‘vidhwa’(in Hindi) or ‘bidhaba’(in Benglai and
Odia) or (vitavai in Tamil) that originates from the Sanskrit word ‘vidh’ which
means ‘to be destitute’. India is the country with the largest widow population
in the world. It is estimated there are 50 million widows in India today –
about 10 percent of the country’s female population.
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| Widows of Varanasi |
When the husband dies, in addition to coping with grief, the woman usually finds herself without any social safety net. Far too often, she lacks access to inheritance, land tenure, employment and even the means to survive. Widows are often evicted from their homes and physically abused – some even killed – even by members of their own family.
In India, where widowhood constitutes a low
status social institution as well as a personal condition, thousands of widows
are disowned by relatives and made homeless, forcing many women to seek
informal work as domestic labourers or turn to begging or even prostitution.
A visit to the religious places like Kashi, Vrindaban, Puri bears
testimony to the plight of the aged widows. The condition of the widows is not
very different in other countries of the world, except in countries having a
strong social safety net.
The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act 1856, also Act
XV, 1856, passed on 16 July 1856, legalised the remarriage of widows in all
jurisdictions of India under East India Company rule. The act was enacted on 26
July 1856. It was drafted by Lord Dalhousie and passed by Lord Canning before
the Indian Rebellion of 1857. It was Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar (1820-1891), who
first campaigned for widow remarriage. He performed the first widow remarriage
in Kolkata on 7 December 1856 under strict police protection from the
fundamentalist Hindus, who were against this. The widow Kalimati daughter of
Bramhananda Mukherjee was married to Sirishchandra Vidyaratna in Calcutta.
Veerasalingam Pantulu (1848-1919) formed an association for widow remarriage in
the Telugu- speaking areas of the Madras Presidency and sent his students all
over Andhra Pradesh to find young single men willing to marry widows. He
arranged the first widow remarriage in Andhra Pradesh on 11 December 1881. Such
campaigns were carried out by reformists in other states too.
167 years after the first widow remarriage,
though things have improved, yet marrying a widow is still not widely accepted
and still considered inauspicious in Indian society. A widow is still expected
to lead a life of abstinence. The stigma attached to widowhood is so deep that
in some places widows are prohibited from attending auspicious ceremonies like
marriage. Superstitions around widows are still prevalent.
Like India, in many Asian countries, widowhood is
stigmatized and seen as a source of shame. Widows are thought to be cursed in
some cultures and are even associated with witchcraft. Such misconceptions can
lead to widows being ostracized, abused and worse. In countries embroiled in
conflicts, women are often widowed young and must bear the heavy burden of
caring for their children amid fighting and displacement with no help or
support. Some of these widows are teenagers – or even younger. The death
of their husbands can leave a terrible legacy these widows must endure
throughout their remaining years.
The
United Nations ratified a day to address the "poverty and injustice faced
by millions of widows and their dependents in many countries". The
first-ever International Widows' Day was observed on 23 June 2011. It was an
occasion to call attention to the plight of most of the widows. From 2011, this
day has been observed to draw world attention to the condition of the widows.
The theme of International Widows Day 2023 is 'Innovation and technology for
gender equality'. Efforts could be made by government and civil society
organizations to provide a safety net and up-skill the widows so that they can
earn and take care of themselves.
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mrinalchatterjeeiimc@gmail.com
https://www.odisha.plus/2023/06/woes-of-the-widows/
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