Developments
- Asia
Inheritance
Customary Law Pensions Mourning & Burial Rights
Land Rights Remarriage Violence Employment
Widows Organising Themselves Widowhood and Aids
Gujerat
The
Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) has organised
a scheme whereby its women members can insure against their
husbands' deaths. Many SEWA members working in the informal
sector have taken up the scheme. So successful has the scheme
been that men have asked if they can join to insure against
their husband's death but the answer has been a firm no!
In
Gujerat widows have organised themselves in groups of 300,
and marched to the town centre to protest about the derisory
value of their state pensions.
India
In
1994 a National Widows Conference took place at the Indian
Institute of Management in Bangalore. Alongside the academics,
researchers, scholars, social workers, and activists delivering
their papers, 47 poor widows from 14 different states presented
their testimonies, stated their needs and planned strategies
for action. This conference was the brainchild of Dr Marty
Chen of the Harvard Institute of Development Studies. Some
30 papers on all aspects of widowhood prepared on clear
guidelines were presented and debated. But the star players
were the widows themselves. Other countries please follow!
In
India, as in many developing countries there is no national
pension scheme, although some states have (derisory) pensions
for destitute widows. Creating a pension scheme for “destitute
widows” has sometimes encouraged relatives to abandon
the widow to ensure her eligibility under such schemes.
Inheritance
The
1956 Hindu Succession Act granted property rights to Hindu
women. It has remained mainly a paper right. Muslim women
in India on paper have better inheritance rights. Many widows
are victims or murder, rape, violence and mental cruelty
due to inheritance and property disputes.
In
1996 the State of Maharashtra amended the 1956 law to make
daughters equally eligible to inherit along with sons. This
enactment was intended to combat sex bias and extreme dowry
demands.
Information
on enforcement please.
Violence
In
1987 Roop Kanwar, an 18 year old Hindu widow was
immolated on her husband's funeral pyre as a “sati”.
In spite of a spate of Acts to outlaw domestic violence
( dowry death, bride burning, sati, and feticide)
in the 1980s no one has ever been prosecuted for this murder.
Vishaka
and others v State of Rajasthan. (Supreme Court of India.
1995)
A
writ was lodged with the Supreme Court on behalf of the
victim of an alleged gang rape directing the State to develop
guidelines for the prevention of sexual abuse. The terms
proposed were in part drawn from CEDAW's General
Recommendation 19 dealing with violence against women.
At
the 1994 Indian Widows Conference in Bangalore, several
widows gave evidence of the torture they had suffered at
the hands of their male relatives, and the lack of protection
from police and courts.
Domestic
violence to widows remains a neglected issue in spite of
many Indian women's organisations taking up the cause of
bride burning and dowry deaths.
The
1983 Criminal Law Amendment Act gives some scope to action
on violence to widows but legislative reforms have yet to
break the cycle of violence to Indian women.
Legislation
The
Guild of Service in India with
the assistance of a group of senior lawyers and retired
judges is planning a programme of investigation into the
implementation of the 1984 Family Courts Act which was enacted
to provide a more efficient and accessible justice system
to uphold women's rights. A decade and half since the legislation,
very few states have in fact set up family courts which
potentially could bring judicial relief to widows whose
legal rights to inheritance of their dead husband's property
are ignored by unscrupulous male relatives.
WIDOWS'
CONFERENCES
At
least 3 very important conferences took place in India in
1999 .
One in Delhi, through the Guild of Service, one in Calcutta
organised by the Joint Action of the National Association
of Women, and one in Rajasthan, attended by 500 widows,
organised by APARAJITA, the Umbrella Organisation for several
state widows' action groups.
The
recommendations of these conferences covered issues such
as pensions, the need for registration of both husband and
wife as owners of land, tighter enforcement of penal laws
criminalising violence to widows within the family and the
community; credit and loan schemes; and the need to use
all means to change social stereotyping. APARAJITA has sent
a petition to the central government demanding changes in
the law and the monitoring of enforcement mechanisms.
Reports of these meetings can be obtained either through
WRI, or directly from:
Guild of Service (Delhi Branch). Mrs V Mohini Giri email:
[email protected]
Joint Action Mrs Jyotsna Chatterji [email protected]
APARAJITA Mrs. Laksmi Murthy [email protected]
