We cry out for cow protection in the name of religion, but we refuse protection to the human cow in the shape of the girl widow: M K Gandhi
Grieving over a death of a spouse or a long-term partner is devastating for a widow, especially when they have planned to spend their whole life with each other. It is tremendously painful for a woman when she is widowed. She feels detached from society. She sees her future tensed and fearful because she knows her life is hard hereafter. She might wish to spend some more moments with her husband. She may also feel guilty about being a person who is still alive and may think to attempt suicide. If she had been dependent on her husband, she might face financial issues in the future. However, no one knows when your life partner will be taken away from you. Some women became widows at a young age and some after giving birth to a child. So taking care of a child in widowhood is itself a challenging and herculean task. She alone fights with the hardships to look after her child. She consoles herself to cope with this trauma.
In our society, the widows are not treated well. They are being discriminated against for their moral rights. In India, widows are called “vidhwa” which means “to be destitute”. The name itself reveals the status of widows in society. Nowadays, widows are ill-treated through domestic violence, sexual assault, prostitution, and property grabbing, etc. They are used as slaves and compelled to work at low wages. In India discrimination among widows is almost eradicated but not wholly. Currently, India has the most widow population about 46 million. In our society, widows have no right to enjoy their life. Some communities prohibit widows to go in wedding ceremonies. They are forced to hide in the house. In ancient times widows were burned with their deceased husbands (Satti custom), they were not allowed to wear dresses other than white color and were deprived of remarriage. We must be thankful for Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar who campaigned against this barbarism and later on, these unbearable customs were obliterated and eventually Widows Remarriage Act was passed by Lord Canning.
Widows usually face financial problems although the government had made a scheme namely Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme, but haplessly they are deprived of getting the benefit of pension schemes because of manifold circumstances. They are prohibited to remarry and if she marries away, she loses her property as well as her children. If poor widows want to remarry they face dowry issues because they cannot afford it. This can create a problem for her to get a suitable husband. Even if they find another partner, he may be an elderly widower or a divorcee or sick or handicapped. If a widow has a child at the time of her husband’s demise, they don’t want to remarry because they have fear that her children might face ill-treatment in her new in-laws. If the widow is young they are victimized by sexual harassment and rapes. The rights of widows are the rights of women and the rights of women are human rights. If we neglect to contemplate the issues of widows it is a breach of human rights. When we deny her property rights, we actually suppress her moral rights. According to the provisions of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, widows who choose to remarry still have a right to their deceased husband’s property. She is grouped under class-I heirs of her deceased husband and shall have the right to inherit. The government also should establish other national laws and provisions especially those that will protect the property and inheritance rights of widows and ensure the proper implementation of those laws.
In conclusion, I want to suggest to the whole society that we all must work together to protect the rights of widows and stop their violation. All of us need to support their participation in decision-making processes. It is the collective responsibility of our leaders, community heads, youth of the society, men and women to safeguard the rights and dignity of widows. Together we must stand up to ensure that our sisters, mothers, and daughters who have suffered the loss of their husbands do not also suffer that loss of their rights. So we all have to come together to eliminate the discrimination against widows. We should treat them equally with equal rights, equal value in society, and the opportunity to remarry. We must end the world’s cruelty towards the widows. The most prominent nationalist leader M K Gandhi who once said, “We cry out for cow protection in the name of religion, but we refuse protection to the human cow in the shape of the girl widow.”
The author can be reached at za************@***il.com