Zambia
Widowhood Equals Poverty:

An overview of discriminatory practices on widows in Zambia.

Widowhood in Zambia is sometimes referred to as a curse. A widowed woman suffers marginalisation, abuse and deprivation owing to attitudes which are sanctioned by tradition and perpetuated through customary law. It could be argued, that the rationale behind such customary law was to provide for the welfare and needs of the widow and her family. However, under the current social and economic climate, some customary practices are harmful and even fatal to widows

The Zambian Constitution has failed to protect widows. The Constitution itself is contradictory – it prohibits discrimination on grounds of sex but legalises discriminatory customary practices relevant to marriage, adoption, burial, inheritance and personal law. The exclusion of many widows from decisions on inheritance and burial rites, and her unequal status relative to other men and women are not reflected by her formal equality in Zambia's Constitution.

Three practices have been identified for their significance:

- Sexual cleansing: a ritual which symbolises that a widow has been freed from her marriage and can remarry. It involves sexual intercourse with a male relative of the deceased, thereby, increasing her risk to sexually transmissible diseases including AIDS. However, in a study undertaken in Zambia by SAfAIDS (in press), ritual cleansing involving sexual intercourse after a woman is widowed is now on the decrease, more so if her late husband's cause of death is suspected to be AIDS. Instead ritual cleansing now involves putting a beaded ring around the waist of the widow, and smearing her with mealie meal. The widow should not get married or have sex, lest she dies or goes mad, until the ring drops off on its own. (from A Review of household and community responsesto the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa UNAIDS/99.39E (English original) June 1999 p.45)

- Polygamy: encourages disputes over property rights and inheritance among widows upon the death of a husband. These competing interests are exacerbated by the exclusion of widows from the decision-making process upon the death of a husband.

- “Property grabbing”: this is the most visible violation of widows human rights in Zambia. This phrase is commonly used, not only in Zambia, to describe the systematic removal of possessions enjoyed by a widow and her late husband. The relatives of the deceased claim a collective proprietal interest in the deceased's property and remove household belongings without her consent. The consequences are devastating to the widow and her children – sometimes she has to resort to prostitution to support her children and her family. Furthermore, her daughters may have to marry early and her children's education interrupted to meet the need of supporting a family.

Zambia ratified CEDAW in 1985. A legal reform exercise was launched to remove all legal provisions that were overtly discriminatory. One notable reform was the Intestate Succession Act 1989, which was introduced to end “property grabbing” where there is no written Will. However, it has failed to meet its objectives for a number of reasons:

- Firstly, the law itself is discriminatory on grounds of sex. Under the 1989 Act, a widow is entitled to only 20% of the deceased's estate. The surviving children inherit 50%. Furthermore, when a wife dies, it is assumed that her property belongs to her husband.
- Secondly, under the Local Courts Act 1966 , courts are empowered to determine inheritance cases under customary law, including that of non-customary marriages. However, the 1966 Act has not been suitably amended to take into account the provisions of the 1989 Act. By continuing to enforce customary law, the courts are perpetuating a system which is based on patriarchal notions that women/widows are subjected to the decisions male members of the family
- Thirdly, the 1989 Act is poorly enforced and property grabbing continues unabated.

The failure to reform the legal and social status of widows has meant that for may widows in Zambia, widowhood equals poverty. They are also invisible to government policies that do not identify widows as a distinct social group. A recent study conducted by the Catholic Church in Zambia revealed that about 75 percent of Zambia's 10 million population barely survive on one meal and live in poverty. The most affected people as a result of food insecurity are widows, orphans, unemployed and the disabled (Panafrican News Agency; 9 August 2000) Widows are beginning to organise in small clubs in the cities, but owing to financial and other constraints, they are unable to mobilise change effectively.

The above is an extract from WIDOWHOOD/ZAMBIAN EXPERIENCE