Dr
Mohini Giri of the Indian Guild of Service
then addressed the conference on the situation of widows
in South Asia and India particularly. She strongly welcomed
this international conference as an opportunity to move things
forward for widows.
Facts and figures presented would help to dispel the darkness
of ignorance. It was necessary to change the patriarchal mindset
of men who always dominated international meetings. In
India, 8 per cent of the female population - 33 million women
- are widows. One in four households have a widow, and half
of all women over 60 are widows. Some 200,000 widows are left
from the regional wars of the last 50 years.
In terms of treatment, Asia is no better than Africa. In-laws
do not allow a widow her rights and stigma makes it impossible
for her to remarry; religious leaders use outmoded views to
justify sanctions against widows; governments will not apply
the laws which exist; and the media are not supportive and are
only interesting in publicising occasional cases of sati. Child
marriage to older men is common, which increases the number
of young widows.
As in Africa, discriminatory practices are common: widows must
break their bangles, remove the red spot on the forehead, cease
any attempts at personal development, and accept the loss of
their possessions. Many
marriage laws exist, but the courts have a backlog of 6,000
cases, and religious personal laws can override them. Judges
are prejudiced against women, and have even been known to dismiss
a rape case on the grounds that a man would never rape a woman
of a lower caste. Women's status is slowly improving, and now
1 million women have been elected to local government positions
in the panchayats, and will be an important force for change
in the communities.
But the laws need to be revised and harmonised, and judges,
lawyers and the police must be educated and sensitised.
