WRI Current Research March 2005
WRI is concerned to find that there is little reliable information about widowhood in most countries in which we are working – those of South Asia , West Asia and sub-saharan Africa . We do have some rather general comparative information on the incidence of widowhood in a paper written by Martha Alter Chen, one of the pioneers in bringing the situation of widows in India to the international public In the paper entitled Why Widowhood Matters (date uncertain) she gives some data published by the UN - World’s Women 1995: Trends and Statistics.
The proportion of widows within countries or regions varies with fertility
levels, mortality rates, differences in age at marriage and patterns of remarriage,
and levels of political unrest. However the following patterns are discernable:
Overall Widowhood : among all adult women (15 years or older) the proportion of widows is highest in the developed countries where greater longevity and low fertility rates increase the ratio of old to young people.
Older Widowhood :
among women 60 and older, widowhood is significant everywhere,
from 40% in the developed countries and Latin America , to 50% in Africa and
Asia
Younger Widowhood :
in Asia and Africa , widowhood affects many women at
younger ages. In many countries in these regions up to 20-25% of women aged
45-59 are widowed; and in some countries up to 5% of younger women, aged 25-44,
are widows. Looked at another way, the proportion of all widows who are below
60 years of age is 15.8% in the developed world but ranges from 34.4% (in Latin
America) to 43.6% (in Africa) in the developing world.
She also notes that economic deprivation is likely to be reflected in high morbidity and mortality rates among widows compared with married women in the same age group. A study on Bangladeshi widows showed much higher mortality among widows than married women of the same age group, while in India a study of women over 45 found that the mortality rates are 86% higher among widows than among married women.
WRI wants to collect data on a number of countries in Africa , South and
West Asia so that we can present a coherent, well argued and well documented
case for much greater government support for social justice for widows and
recognition of widows’ rights as well as carefully targeted policies
to support widows. At the same time we hope to be able present UN agencies
with the evidence required for international concern and action, particularly
given the Convention on All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. See the
next section for the sections in the Articles of the Convention which directly
or indirectly concern widows.
Currently research on widows in three states in northern India is being undertaken by the Centre for Women’s Development Studies ( New Delhi ) and the Department of Sociology Delhi University; research is underway in Malawi and our partners AWEC are going to undertake research in several districts of Afghanistan . We have some materials on widowhood in Kenya and Ghana (many thanks to Nana Ama Nimako-Boateng, a student at LSE) but would like to expand our knowledge of widowhood practices in these two countries and are actively trying to recruit researchers in Tanzania , Uganda , Cameron and Mozambique . Any reader who would be interested in joining this collective endeavour and would be able to collect the quantitative and qualitative data that we need for our country studies, should contact us.
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