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Widows Banding Together

by Margaret Owen
***The author Is a lawyer specialising in women s rights. She has been researching a book on the lives of widows. Here she reports on efforts by widows in many countries to band together for social change.QN a scorching day in I November 1988 more ' than 500 Indian wido rom many different villages surrounding a town in North Gujarat, gathered in the main square to share common problems, convey a list of the immediate demands to local officials and to work out a plan for future action.
This unique meeting came about through the efforts of Shramjivi Samaj. a local trade union of the poor whose members are mostly women. Everyone was astonished by the daring of the widows, whose militancy defied all traditions. The widows too amazed themselves by their actions, unprecedented in a patriarchal society where widows are seen as inauspicious. and expected to bear their dishonour in silence.
These widows were of all ages, from the very young, some mare children, to the extremely old. They had had enough of the obstructing bureaucracy and were angry about the futility of attempting to obtain the inadequate pensions that some among them — the destitute and the elderly — were on papw entitled to. They wanted legal protection to stay in their homes; to enjoy the inheritance rights given them under the Hindu Succession Law; to retain their dead husband s portion of land to feed themselves and their families. They also asked for proper remuneration for the long hours of work they put in. for example, in the tobacco fields, or as head-loaders. bidi-rollers. or pieceworkers. Most of all. they wanted a future for their children, and an end to the dire poverty, degradation and discrimination they experienced due to their widowed state.
Holding informal meetings in each others' houses, at the wells, in the fields, thepe widows had begun to develop an acute collective awareness of the corruption, the injustice. and the paralysis of the panchayats (Village councils) which were male-dominated and rarely responded to their complaints. The* majority of these widows were illiterate, but by the time the big day arrived they were marvelously articulate, passion ately angry, and had shed
much of their natural shyness at speaking in mixed com-^be event was a brilliant success. With the help of the local radio and the press, it created public awareness of issues that had barely been brought to light before, and gave the women themselves a new confidence to lobby for change.
One practical consequence of the rally was that many more widows began to apply, with Shramjivi Samaj support, for the pensions which the State had legislated for them. The administration. attacked by the media. and harangued by other political elements, could do nothing but yield to their demands.
Of course the pensions were quite inadequate to support destitute widowed women, and in any case ceased after six months, but the meeting enormously increased public support for the widows, and has spurred other similar movements in other states in India.
SEWA. the Self-Employed Widows' Association, based in Ahmedabad. Gujarat, is the brain-child of the indefatigable Ela Bhatt. It has been a model, for several years, of how poor women can organize themselves for change and economic independence. Recently SEWA has developed new programmes aimed to assist not only their members who have already been widowed, but to prepare all the women for a usually inevitable widowhood, life on their own or as female heads of households.
Widowhood is inevitable for a majority of women because in all countries widows outnumber widowers, not only because women tend to outlive men even in the poorest countries, but because women usually marry men who are older than themselves.
SEWA's surveys revealed that many widows are left totally destitute by the time their husbands die; often they have sold all of their assets such as Jewellery, to pay for medicines; are left with heavy debts their men incurred without their knowledge, and are frequently victims of unscrupulous moneylenders who seize their land in satisfaction. , Insurance
against illness and accident and death of the main breadwinner. for a small premium, can protect women against sudden family disasters.
Similar activities are taking place in Bangladesh. There BRAC. the Bangladesh Committee for Rural Advancement. has been training para legals in many villages where they have projects. The mullahs and traditional leaders disapprove of this new solidarity and independence among women, and show it by threats and harassment. In some villages the BRAC organizers have been ordered to leave, and cease all their activities.
I met about 200 widows in the Manikganj District. Their para legal is a young widow called Ishrat. It is to her that the women go at the first signs of trouble. Although under Muslim law a woman is entitled to half her brother's portion of her father's estate, and an eight of the estate of her husband, in practice she rarely receives her due. Dis fnites with the husband's amlly over land are commonplace. Often widows find themselves evicted from their homes, and sometimes their children are taken from them.
Ishrat works to reduce confrontation, and achieve a just settlement. Sometimes she'will take a small group of women with her and the Silaintiff to confront the deendant with his alleged offence. and try to shame him into surrender of the stolen land and deeds. If this tactic doesn't work, she will represent the widow at the Satish (village council). If all else falls, she can ask the BRAC legal office to bring the matter to the courts. News of such challenges to the male-dominated establishment spread like wild-fire, so that everyone becomes better informed about widows' legal rights.
hi Northern Ghana the self-styled "Ministry of WM-
ows is aBrass-roots organization that rescues those women who have been banished from their homesteads, and tries to provide them with Income-generating activities and shelter. In Kenya, the Widows and Orphans Societies offer a safety-net-for AIDS widows who afe reduced to begging and prostitution.
Widows' associations in Africa tend still to be welfare and relief orientated. It is in India that the movements have shed the 'victim' image, become consciously political and give real meaning to that overused but little understood word 'empowerment.' In India, discriminated against and impoverished women are seen as people with vast potential for corftrtbuting economically and socially to communities, and who nave the will and the skill to obtain this recognition from government.
At a recent Indian Widows Conference held in Bangalore. 49 widows, some of whom had never left their houses since widowhood, met with academics, planners. and activists, and described their histories and their priorities. In a moving ceremony they adorned each other with kumkum. bangles, and coloured saris, and vowed to take the battle for their human rights back to their villages through their local groups. "From now on, no matter how they revile us, we will work together, help each other, and defy anyone who seeks to oppress us." Goda said. "Now I have so many widows coming to my house that I feel strong. My relatives and neighbours realize that even if I have no husband. I have a large family of sisters to support me."
It is unfortunate that the deprivation of widows has received so little attention from the women's movements around the world. But new attitudes will only come about when widows themselves take collective action. The experiences in India show that widows are often capable of being more Independent and militant than most married women. Freedom from conjugal control and the
need to earn a living often impels them to be more assertive than their married sisters. They can be real agents of change.
The driving force behind any change has. of course, to be the widows themselves. The means of action must involve proper-knowledge of rights, legal battles, public lobbying and criticism of political parties, officials, traditional and religious leaders, and local village councils. Success comes when collective action backs up specific demands.
There will be a widows' panel at this year's NGO Forum in Beijing. Hopefully, it will encourage more banding together of bereaved women who should never been seen only as vulnerable, but as people who have much to contribute and who bring about much needed social change.
Courtesy — People & the Planet
Margaret Owen's forthcoming book. The World of Widows, to be published in 1996 by Zed Books. London, is being researched with a grant from Planet 21 and the Swedish International Development Authority.