![\"\"](\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/widows-day.jpg\")
On International Widow\u2019s Day, marked on Sunday 23 June 2019, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres is asking everyone to reflect on the \u201ceconomic hardship and increased vulnerability\u201d of these bereaved women and ensure \u201cthey are not left out or left behind\u201d.<\/p>\n
In the \u201cabsence of social and legal protection\u201d, he said in his message, \u201cwidowed women\u2019s lifetime earnings and savings are often too little to avoid poverty\u201d.<\/p>\n
Even in countries with good pension coverage, \u201cwomen are significantly more likely to suffer poverty in old age than men\u201d, he continued, pointing out that \u201csocial services are particularly important for older widows who may live alone or have greater need for elderly care services\u201d.<\/p>\n
In many countries, widows do not have the same inheritance rights as their male counterparts, \u201cmeaning that they may be stripped of land, property and even rights and access to their own children\u201d, according to the UN chief. \u201cEven where laws do not discriminate, those rights need to be equally applied and enjoyed in practice\u201d.<\/p>\n
Moreover, in some societies, widows suffer marginalization, ill-treatment and violence, including sexual abuse, harassment and forced remarriage.<\/p>\n
Mr. Guterres also shown a light on the vulnerabilities of widows in conflict and natural disaster, which are exacerbated through loss and displacement and weakened social and legal protections, stressing that \u201cnorms that are used to justify\u201d these discriminatory practices must be tackled.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn this international day, let us reaffirm our commitment to supporting all widows, regardless of age, location, or legal system\u201d ensuring that they are \u201cnot left out or left behind\u201d, concluded the Secretary-General.<\/p>\n
\u2018Unseen\u2019 women\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n For her part, the Executive Director of UN Women observed that while families sustain cultures and economies and provide love, support and nourishment, \u201call too often\u201d, they can also be \u201cplaces of violence and discrimination for women and girls, with widows being some of the most affected, with little recourse\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a woman\u2019s value is contingent on having a husband, widowhood can force women out of family structures entirely, leaving them particularly vulnerable to multi-dimensional poverty, loneliness and isolation\u201d Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said in her message.<\/p>\n Noting that poorer women are more likely to become widowed because of large spousal age gaps in poorer households \u2013 often sustained by harmful practices like child marriage \u2013 and a lower life expectancy of poor men, she observed that \u201cmany widows also struggle to maintain economic security in the face of discriminatory inheritance laws\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cEven in places where legislation exists to protect women from these situations, widows are often subjected to eviction and property grabbing\u201d, maintained Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka. \u201cDespite being present in every society in significant numbers, widows remain largely unseen, with correspondingly weak support for the challenges they face\u201d.<\/p>\n When a woman\u2019s value is contingent on having a husband, widowhood can force women out of family structures entirely —\u00a0UN Women chief<\/em><\/p>\n While 2010 figures show that 14.6 per cent of women aged 55\u201359 globally were widowed, this does not capture the full picture. Widows can also be child brides whose husbands died, leaving them with little or no inheritance, property or livelihood opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cThe struggle to support themselves and their children in these conditions sets women up for a lifetime of disadvantage and fuels cycles of poverty across generations\u201d, bemoaned the UN Women chief, underscoring that urgent action is needed \u201cto better protect and sustain widows\u201d.<\/p>\n She noted steps that governments could take, including policy efforts toward supporting income security and economic participation for the most vulnerable, such as widows.<\/p>\n \u201cOn this International Widows\u2019 Day, we recognize widows in all their diversity, and acknowledge the need to integrate them fully and visibly into our work on gender equality so that we break cycles of poverty and disadvantage and ensure that all widows can enjoy their full human rights\u201d, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On International Widow\u2019s Day, marked on Sunday 23 June 2019, UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres is asking everyone to reflect on the \u201ceconomic hardship and increased vulnerability\u201d of these bereaved women and ensure \u201cthey are not left out or left behind\u201d. In the \u201cabsence of social and legal protection\u201d, he said in his message, \u201cwidowed women\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4111,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4110"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4112,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4110\/revisions\/4112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}