Rural widows in Bangladesh

Literature review

A widow is a woman whose husband has died, while a widower is a man in that situation. The
state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood. These terms are not applied to a
person after he or she becomes divorced from their former spouse, though they may sometimes
be used after the former spouse has died (Jamadar, 2015).

Women constitute half of the population of Bangladesh the number of women in the country is 8
crore 7 lakh. According to the BBS survey titled 'The Report on Bangladesh Sample Vital
Statistics 2019', 63.8% of these women are married. In other words, 5 crore 55 lakh 6 thousand
women are married in the country and 9.5 percent of them are widows. Whose number is 52 lakh
83 thousand 60 people( (Jugantor, 2021).

International Widow's Day is being celebrated all over the world on June 23.The day is not
celebrated nationally in Bangladesh because there is no official announcement has been made by
the government yet. As a result, neither the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs nor the
Ministry of Social Welfare has any program in this regard( (Risto F. Harma, 2016)

There are about 258 million widows in the world and about one in ten lives in poverty. Conflicts,
conflicts and wars are one of the reasons for the increase in the number of widows in the Middle
East and North Africa. With the outset of covid epidemic, an estimated 1 million more women
have been widowed ( (united nations, 2021). The widow rate in the country has increased by 0.6
percent. As a result, at present 9.5% of the total female population are widows. Older women are
more likely to be widows (Vital Statistics of Bangladesh, 2019). The 2001 census data shows
that 91% of older women were widowed or separated compared with only 9% of older man. As
well as dealing with widowhood, many older widows face poverty, poor health and abuse
(Sharmin, 2014).

Widows face challenges in fulfilling the basic needs, they face the problem of meeting the need
for food, clothing, shelter, dignity, or even they face the problem of being employed in the
services and have not the participation in the social engagements as well. The widows’

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livelihood in our society and their living status are affected by social prejudices. Social
prejudices are the normal phenomenon of widows' life (Bhowmik, 2020).

In Bangladesh society where men and women do not have an equal footing and women are
traditionally subordinate to men, widows are not generally supposed to fare better. In both the
Hindu and Muslim families, a daughter-in-law enjoys a secondary position. Having no direct
access to male protection, widows are usually at the bottom of the hierarchy especially in the
joint family structure. However, in addition to the sudden emotional stress, widows irrespective
of their age need not only economic assistance but also social support to keep them going
(Akhtar, The Status of Widows in Bangladesh, 2001).

Socio-economic status
The socio-economic status of widows in rural society is a scenario of discrimination, oppression,
and marginalization. Becoming widowed has not only the economic consequences but it has also
social and psychological impacts. A widow is seen to have lost their honor in the family and
society, particularly in the poor community. The widowed women do not have freedom of
choice, which is one of the basic requirements of empowerment (Khan, 2012). Commonly it is
believed, the widows are of old aged and hence are cared for by others in the family. The
pictures now a day has become changed, and the widows have come forward, and they are not
inclined to depend on others; they do engage in works and social participation to achieve the
recognition. Many widows are very young age, and they intend to rely on themselves. In many
societies, the widows are restricted to remarry, and therefore, they face many critics (Bhowmik,
2020). Rural widows are reportedly unable to support their children through agriculture,
requiring a diversified livelihoods strategy.
The aged widows who form the largest segment in the group are unacceptable to the employees
because of their age. These lonely helpless aged widows are thrown into the poverty process and
are forced to become heads of their households (Islam, 2020). Due to covid-19 pandemic, an
estimated 1 lakh women have been widowed. Almost all of these widows suffer a variety of
personal, social, and cultural issues in addition to financial difficulties. Apart from that, the
covid-19 has posed a threat to human civilization in a variety of ways. One of these has already
surfaced: economic issues. As a result, it will have a negative impact on the lives of widows who
are unable to support themselves financially( (Kuchay, 2021)

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Rural Poor widows throughout the Bangladesh has usually been a state of economic hardship and
social deprivation. Widows living in different areas in Bangladesh are a neglected population.
Widowhood is seen as a social stigma. In many societies, widow has limited social status and is
excluded from social participation ( (Akhtar, The Status of Widows in Bangladesh, 2001). The
traditional socio-cultural environment of rural areas in Bangladesh discriminates against women
and they face many obstacles to their participation ( (Qadir.R.S, 1981). They are also given
lower social status and decision-making power in the family. In these circumstances, the death of
a husband makes a widow woman completely dependent on family members and others. A
woman's life security is at stake in the absence of economic or social support coming from
family or non-family networks (Islam, 2020).
Becoming widowed in poor family, means losing her husband who maybe the only breadwinner
of the family. If she lives with the extended family in most of the cases after her husband’s death
she can’t live in her husband’s family or she can’t go back to her parents because of poor
economic condition of the other members to bear their burden. Given the circumstances the life
becomes very painful to her, as she does not have any economic support and honor.

Generally, widowed women are more dependent on family and face worse socio-economic
conditions than men. Fewer than 1 million women receive widow allowance of 300 taka (US$4)
per month (Sharmin, 2014).

Even if economically solvent widows in rural often faces harassment or social constraints
(Akhtar, The Status of Widows in Bangladesh, 2001).
Generally solvent widows in rural areas are neglected in the family structure. They have less
dignity as human beings in the society and the condition of poor widows are much vulnerable.
The widows of well of families are the victims of a lot of discrimination and oppression. They
are entangled in various superstitions and face unreasonable traditional barriers. Because of this
obstacle they cannot think about remarriage despite their desire. If a woman becomes a widow at
a young age, many do not think of remarrying her. The folks disapprove more in the event of a
widow's remarriage. How can it be accepted now that children are growing up, as it is said?

During widowhood the widows adopted different strategies like the problem solving, cognitive
restructuring, express emotion, social support, problem avoidance, wishful thinking, self-

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criticism, and they adopted the social withdrawal in reducing stress; the ethnic group of widows'
influences their adjustment strategies to widowhood stress ( (B.N., 2017). In Bangladesh, the
widely held view that older widows are adequately cared for by their children is only partly true,
based on the evidence of older widows living on their own or evicted and abandoned.

Economic Status
Widows are considered to be a marginalized group in Bangladesh because they occupy a very
low social status in society. Consequently they have to face severe social, economic and cultural
deprivations. Economic factors are a major determinant of well-being. Several authors have
argued that widowhood in south Asia tends to be associated with economic deprivation. Few
noted variables have been described below( (RANJAN, 2001)

Inheritance and Access to Property

It is frequently argued that women were typically involved in marriages where the traditional
division of labor kept financial information and decision-making under the control of the
husband. These wives would, upon widowhood, find themselves facing important economic
decisions, unaware of their financial resources, options, and needs ( (Lopata, 1973).

This combination of loss of income and inexperience in handling money is thought to create a
high risk situation for older widows. The inexperienced widow might fall prey to unscrupulous
business people who provide false or misleading information to bilk the unwary widow of her
savings.

Widows' Children

56.25 per cent of widows staying with their families faced difficulties in raising their children.
28.57 per cent experienced problems in getting their children educated. 14.28 per cent faced
problem in getting a job, nutrition and medical treatment for their children. Apparently, many
children had to face hardships. The link between widowhood and child labour merits research.
There is a negative effect of the absence of father on their children.( (Upadhay, 1996) finds that
more than 60 per cent (62.59 per cent of widowed women, and 74.59 per cent of divorced/
separated women) report the negative effects of the absence of father on their children especially

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in matters of education, discipline, work and social habits. The daughters especially suffer
disadvantages, reflecting the low status and marginali- sation of their mothers( (RANJAN, 2001)

Maintenance

Most of the widows staying with families did not receive any kind of support from relatives. Of
those who received help received maintenance of 50 per cent from their in-laws and 25 per cent
each from their brothers and sisters.
The restrictions on residence, owner- ship, remarriage and employment examined so far put
widows in a situation of acute dependence of economic support from others.
In the absence of effective form of state-based social security measures, family and community
support or maintenance, become the crucial source of potential assistance. The extent and nature
of family and community support can( (Chen, 1992). Widows living alone deserve particular
attention. Their social isolation makes them vulnerable to mortality be analyzed in terms of three
determinants living arrangements, inter-household sup- port and intra-household support.

Psychological Status

Many studies have concluded that a higher rate of mental illness exists among the widows than
their married counterparts. Even a study conducted concluded that widows had higher mean
levels of traumatic grief, depressive and anxiety symptoms (compared to widowers) (Chen,
1992). Another problem associated with widowhood is loneliness. Many widows live by
themselves. They suffer the fear of being alone and loss of self-esteem as women, in addition to
the many practical problems related to living alone. They feel the loss of personal contact and
human association; therefore, they tend to withdraw and become unresponsive( (Karmakar,
2021)

The loss of a spouse may result in the loss of a person who assists in monitoring and supporting
attempts to change one’s health behaviors. Widowed people experience a more difficult
adjustment process than do others. Major life events such as widowhood are also associated with
a disturbance in one’s normal routine (including participation in health behaviors) and an

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increase in stress. Widowhood can lead to intense frustration among aged widows resulting in
stress, depression and other forms of adaptive behavior (Holmes, 1967)

The death of her husband, more than any other loss, would seem likely to disorganize a woman's
life profoundly. Not only does the death of a husband bring about fundamental disruption in a
woman's social environment, but it also removes a key relationship in her emotional life. It
introduce into her life new difficulties and leaves her to deal with them alone, except for the help
she may receive for a time from friends and kin. In fact, the millions of widows in our society are
more likely than their married or never-married peers to be poverty stricken, socially isolated,
psychologically or emotionally troubled, and left without a meaningful life pattern or social
function (BANKOFF, 2016). Psychological problems are the most serious or familiar problem
confronting widows. It involved a feeling of sadness in remembrance of their later husbands,
followed by financial problems, social and then health matters. Widow needs adjustment in all
area of their lives that is in the field of social, health, monetary, and psychological issues
(Suleiman, 2010).

Young widows lack experience in life because of their age and therefore face more problems in
comparison to the older widows, the latter might have seen several cases of widowhood and are
less likely to be the victims of violence. The authors in the context of young widows’ state that,
widows’ personality enters into a roller coaster of ups and downs makes it vulnerable to many
physical as well as psychological suffering. Similarly, the duration of widowhood also affects
their personality as with increasing duration, the coping skills increase (Bhowmik, 2020).

Consequences of widowhood: Rural perspective

The negative effects of becoming a widow have far reaching consequences for societies at large.
These range from the mass poverty of pension-age women, to severe destitution. Ultimately,
each of the consequences represents a deprivation that requires urgent action, because if left
unaddressed, the negative ethical and economic costs, which are interlinked, will be felt with
increasing intensity by societies around the world.

The basic themes examined are the consequences for widows of:
1. Moving into poverty and the intensification of existing poverty,
2. Health risks and outcomes,

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3. Threats and outcomes for their children,
4. Social marginalization,
5. The impact of social norms.

These themes run throughout the consequences of widowhood in all parts of the world. The main
substantive distinction between developing and developed countries is that the impact of social
norms on deprivation is far less direct in developed countries.

Loss of income, disinheritance, government neglect, social exclusion

Four factors determine the consequences of the loss of a husband or partner for women:
1. loss of the husbands’ (or partners’) income from paid employment,
2. the availability of adequately paid employment opportunities for women together with
childcare,
3. rules regarding the inheritance of property particularly land for rural women in developing
countries, where the impact of a lack of sons is significant,
4. the existence or lack of state welfare provision (especially healthcare, childcare and
education), currently referred to in the research on developing countries as social protection.
The consequence of loss of income on the husband’s death is straightforward, in that the income
he once earned is no longer available for the surviving wife or partner and any dependent
children. Loss of an adult male is economically devastating to already poor families (World
Bank 2005).

Loss of income, low wages and lack of a welfare state

In many country contexts, women, and in particular widows, are either not permitted to take up
paid employment at all, or find it difficult to obtain, and/or are unable to find dignified types of
work (Shukri et al. 1996). Even where they do, they are paid less than men, sometimes
significantly so. Income inequality between men and women can further aggravate a situation
where men’s wages in manufacturing and agriculture are already low and typically insufficient to
maintain families without state welfare support. In addition, childcare is required if women are to

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take up full-time work due to the loss of a spouse or partner. This brings additional costs and
daily logistical considerations. The international significance of the childcare issue was
highlighted in a recent international study by Jody Heymann (2006) and shown to be a
significant problem across all regions, especially for women in low-paid employment.
The wages widows earn do not support a family, resulting in them lower standard of livelihood.
On top of this, due to low paid transportation are not affordable on a daily basis, so they have to
walk, which, with a late evening finish, means women are said to be at risk of sexual assault.

Stigma and sex

In some parts of the rural areas, widowhood suffers from an ambiguous and complex social
reasoning that links widows with the prejudice about single women that regards them as sexually
‘loose’, promiscuous at best and prostitutes at worst. This stigma means widows can lose out on
jobs, with employers fearing the potential inference that they would be employed because of
their perceived sexual availability. It may also mean they cannot obtain credit or other
necessities, since travel outside the village community seen as sexually questionable. ‘If a
woman travels out of the village too often on her own, they say she roams around, that she is a
loose woman’ (Agarwal, 1989).
The family forced the widow to marry a brother-in-law to control her sexuality and preserve the
honor of the family by not marrying outside the family. The most important reason for such
remarriage was to deprive a widow of her inheritance rights by getting her married to the
brother-in-law to retain the property within the family (Prem Chowdhry 2012).
Physical Status

The social and economic marginalization has an impact on the health of widows. (Chen & Dreze,
1995) definition has been noted which states that the health is an outcome of the socio-
psychological processes. The key factors are as follows: Social Isolation: The social isolation of
widows is associated with various forms of psychological mistreatment (often leading to
emotional distress) and takes at least three forms: (a) stigmatization: as being the cause of their
husband's death; as being sexually dangerous; and generally, as being inauspicious; (b) stigmata:
enforced dress and appearance codes to mark this stigmatization; and (c) ostracisation: from the
religious and social life of the community by virtue of being inauspicious. The 'widow

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vulnerability framework' has been delineated which is used to consider the intersection of (a) the
domains of widows' lives in which they suffer vulnerabilities, and (b) the underlying causes of
the vulnerabilities the widows face.

The rate of poverty is higher in rural areas of Bangladesh also rural people are suffering from
malnutrition. The rate of malnutrition is higher among widows in rural areas the prevalence of
malnutrition is almost 28.6%. Widows experiencing traumatic grief following the death of a
spouse were at subsequent increased risk for physical health events including stroke, cancer, and
atherosclerosis,  disability, medication usage, and hospitalization, including increased sleep
disturbances (Monk et al., 2008) and physical ailments (headaches, chest pain) that impair
bereaved daily functioning. Changes in routine health behaviors may also help explain the
negative health effects of widowhood (Lee et al., 2005). Behavioral changes following
widowhood such as being sedentary, having poor sleep, gaining or losing weight, and smoking
likely undermine health during the transition to widowhood (Lee et al., 2005; Schulz et al., 2001;
Williams, 2004).

That widows have poorer health and higher mortality than married women part of the reasons
why widows have increased mortality was due to having more risk factors and comorbidities.
widows had more smoking, obesity, problems, hypertension, and reduced their physical
activity than married women (Lee et al., 2005).

Either singly or in combination, these risks or comorbidities contributed to poorer health of the
widows. However, they could be modified and reduced by increased physical activity, leading to
an overall improvement in health. By being physically active, widows could reverse their health
adversity and improved not only their physical health but also their mental health (Lee et al.,
2005).

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