Yakin Ertürk, Director, UN Division for the Advancement of
Women: supporting our conference in 2001
.... "The issues which widows generally face and those encountered by women in developing countries are cause for serious concern. The situation of widows should continue to be featured on the international fora until they become firmly integrated into the policy agenda.
Traditional Inheritors ( Kenya)
We give below a short excerpt from a paper By Nancy Luke (Assistant Professor at Brown University), presented at the Population Association of America Annual Meeting, May 2002 entitled Widows and “Professional Inheritors”: Understanding AIDS Risk Perceptions in Kenya. It provides an excellent example of how customs do change over time but not necessarily to women’s benefit.
“. . . in light of AIDS, the institution [of widow inheritance] has changed considerably and has resulted in a dangerous and unsatisfactory arrangement. . . Widows remain under great social pressure to continue the tradition by finding an inheritor and being cleansed, and many believe deviation from this responsibility will still be punished with chira (eds a wasting disease). At the same time, widows believe they have lost their rights to a responsible, respectable inheritor who assists them financially or materially.
. . . it appears that the traditional economic support supplied by many inheritors has diminished. Although this support did not always amount to much, many respondents say that today widows receive nothing from inheritors. Moreover, the tables have turned so that inheritors now expect widows to support them. Inheritors insist on receiving food, clothing, and domestic upkeep, and many respondents noted that they have become a financial burden to widows. For example, one woman noted: “Widows are suffering …. The inheritors are mainly idle and just come to eat in these homes” (Widow, aged 26). One male respondent explained how he had inherited his sister-in-law after the first inheritor gave her no support. He remarked, “Inheritors are opportunists who are looking for a good, easy life where they get good food, clothes etc., while he wastes your money. Otherwise there is nothing good the woman gets in the whole arrangement” (Man, aged 22). Finally, an NGO representative explained: “It is very rare to find a situation the way it is supposed to be [inheritance in the traditional manner]. Inheritors have the upper hand. Tradition has favoured them, and they can take from widows.” 
It is also evident that inheritors are no longer good men. Brothers-in-law and other clansmen who live in the neighbouring community want to preserve the Luo customs and often are the most insistent that widows complete the rituals. But due to their fear that widows have AIDS, these local men refuse to inherit. This compels the widow or her family to search for someone else to complete the practice, and this person is usually a “stranger” from another village or part of Luoland. The fact the new inheritors are strangers to the local area means their backgrounds are unknown. In general, Luos often blame strangers for bringing disease or immoral behaviours to a region—even if they are Luos from another location. In short, traditional inheritors are married, respectable, related men, while widows do not know or trust the new variety of inheritor. This new development leaves widows with the feeling that they are “forced” into inheritance with men they have not chosen.
The demand for unrelated men to inherit local widows has led to the phenomenon of “professional inheritors.” These are young, often single men who inherit numerous women with the benefits of acquiring the wealth of the deceased husbands and enjoying numerous, legitimate sexual partners. . . .
The phenomenon of professional inheritors is the most likely explanation for widespread fear that inheritors transmit AIDS. From the widows’ perspective, these men are particularly risky because they travel from widow to widow to fulfill the sexual rituals. Widows also agree that cleansing would not be legitimate if a condom were used. Moreover, inheritors are inherently risky types who “don’t accept” condoms in any case. Thus, widows fear that inheritors have HIV/AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases and they cannot protect themselves from these risks. Nevertheless, widows are under great pressure to be cleansed and inherited by these available men.
From WRI Newsletter 6 - Full copies of the Newsletter available from WRI office