I wasn't aware there was such an awareness day . . . but it's a good thing. Being widowed when you have at least some life insurance is bad enough, but there are women in other parts of the world who essentially become throwaways the moment their husband dies. Some of the Hindu traditions around widowhood are especially harsh. I'm pasting below a paragraph from an analysis of the topic on the site "Scientific Research" -- because it's so stark and eye-opening:
"In the Indian context a widow in Hindu religion occupies the lowest position in Hindu social order (Das, 1886). In Hindi (language spoken by majority of Indians) the word widow translates into vidhwa meaning the one bereft of her sovereign (Macdonell, 1929). The peculiarity of the Hindu widowhood experience, especially an upper-caste one is the severity of cruelty and social ostracism that the widow is subjected to. She is still considered married to the deceased husband (Clémentin-Ojha, 1988) and is inevitably held accountable for the death of her husband even though he might have died of illness, old age or any other affliction. His death is acutely reflective of failure of her wifely duties in actions, deeds and even thoughts. The extremity of social ostracism is reflected in abandonment of widows in cities considered holy in Hinduism such as Haridwar and Varanasi where she is to perpetually mourn the death of her husband and atone her sins till the end of her life."
I wasn't aware there was such an awareness day . . . but it's a good thing. Being widowed when you have at least some life insurance is bad enough, but there are women in other parts of the world who essentially become throwaways the moment their husband dies. Some of the Hindu traditions around widowhood are especially harsh. I'm pasting below a paragraph from an analysis of the topic on the site "Scientific Research" -- because it's so stark and eye-opening:
"In the Indian context a widow in Hindu religion occupies the lowest position in Hindu social order (Das, 1886). In Hindi (language spoken by majority of Indians) the word widow translates into vidhwa meaning the one bereft of her sovereign (Macdonell, 1929). The peculiarity of the Hindu widowhood experience, especially an upper-caste one is the severity of cruelty and social ostracism that the widow is subjected to. She is still considered married to the deceased husband (Clémentin-Ojha, 1988) and is inevitably held accountable for the death of her husband even though he might have died of illness, old age or any other affliction. His death is acutely reflective of failure of her wifely duties in actions, deeds and even thoughts. The extremity of social ostracism is reflected in abandonment of widows in cities considered holy in Hinduism such as Haridwar and Varanasi where she is to perpetually mourn the death of her husband and atone her sins till the end of her life."
I bet if we REALLY googled cultural norms in this context we'd be shocked. I was, even just reading what the UN had published at the link I included.
It's SO unfair and unkind. Death is natural, how can anyone be treated unfairly for it?
We are truly blessed in the western world. We're sitting in homes and reading this stuff on the internet, unaware.
Amen, sister.