widow

File: Gravestone_illustrating_use_of_the_word_"relict"_meaning_"widow".jpg, Chester County, Pennsylvania.]]

The increased mortality rate after the death of a spouse is called the widowhood effect.{{Cite journal|last=Dabergott|first=Filip|date=2021-03-18|title=The gendered widowhood effect and social mortality gap|journal=Population Studies|volume=76 |issue=2 |pages=295–307|doi=10.1080/00324728.2021.1892809|pmid=33730966 |s2cid=232302325 |issn=0032-4728|doi-access=free|url=https://figshare.com/articles/preprint/The_Gendered_Widowhood_Effect_and_Social_Mortality_Gap/11534088/2/files/20749950.pdf}} It is "strongest during the first three months after a spouse's death, when they had a 66-percent increased chance of dying".{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-widowhood-effect-idUSBRE9AD0VU20131114|title='Widowhood effect' strongest during first three months|date=14 November 2016|access-date=2 May 2017|newspaper=Reuters}} There remains controversy over whether women or men are worse off, and studies have attempted to make each case, while others suggest there are no sex differences.Trivedi, J., Sareen, H., & Dhyani, M. (2009). Psychological Aspects of

Widowhood and Divorce. Mens Sana Monogr Mens Sana Monographs, 7(1), 37. {{doi|10.4103/0973-1229.40648|doi-access=free}}

While it is disputed as to whether sex plays a part in the intensity of grief, sex often influences how a person's lifestyle changes after a spouse's death. Research has shown that the difference falls in the burden of care, expectations, and how they react after the spouse's death. For example, women often carry more of an emotional burden than men and are less willing to go through the death of another spouse.{{Cite journal|url=http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?id=GALE%7CA380342155|title=The effect of widowhood on husbands' and wives' physical activity: the cardiovascular health study|via=Gale Academic OneFile|access-date=2016-04-28|journal=Journal of Behavioral Medicine|volume=37 |issue=4|pages=806–817|last1=Stahl|first1=Sarah T.|last2=Schulz|first2=Richard|doi=10.1007/s10865-013-9532-7|pmid=23975417|pmc=3932151|year=2014}} After being widowed, men and women may react very differently and frequently change their lifestyles. Women tend to miss their husbands more if they died suddenly; men tend to miss their wives more if they died after suffering a long terminal illness.{{Cite journal|doi=10.1037/0278-6133.22.5.513|pmid=14570535|title=The effects of widowhood on physical and mental health, health behaviors, and health outcomes: The Women's Health Initiative|journal=Health Psychology|volume=22|issue=5|pages=513–22|year=2003|last1=Wilcox|first1=Sara|last2=Evenson|first2=Kelly R.|last3=Aragaki|first3=Aaron|last4=Wassertheil-Smoller|first4=Sylvia|author-link4=Sylvia Wassertheil-Smoller|last5=Mouton|first5=Charles P.|last6=Loevinger|first6=Barbara Lee}} In addition, both men and women have been observed to experience lifestyle habit changes after the death of a spouse. Both sexes tend to have a harder time looking after themselves without their spouse to help, though these changes may differ based on the sex of the widow and the role the spouse played in their life.

The older spouses grow, the more aware they are of being alone due to the death of their husband or wife. This negatively impacts the mental as well as physical well-being in both men and women.{{cite journal |author=Rebecca L. Utz |author2=Erin B. Reidy |author3=Deborah Carr |author4=Randolph Nesse |author5=Camille Wortman |date=July 2004 |title=The Daily Consequences of Widowhood: The Role of Gender and Intergenerational Transfers on Subsequent Housework Performance |journal=Journal of Family Issues |volume=25 |issue=5 |pages=683–712 |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/142738/Nesse-Carr-House_Perf-JFI-2004.pdf?sequence=1 |doi=10.1177/0192513X03257717|s2cid=10570469 }}

File:'Portrait of a Widow' by Ludovico Carracci, Dayton Art Institute.JPG (circa 1585).]]

File:Alessandro algardi, Ritratto di Olimpia Maidalchini, 1646-1647.jpg wearing a widow's hood.]]

In some parts of Europe and Latin America, including Russia, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Mexico, widows used to wear black for the rest of their lives to signify their mourning,{{cite book|title=Lexical Conflict: Theory and Practice|first=Danko|last= Šipka|year=2015|isbn=9781107116153|page=128|publisher=Cambridge University Press}} a practice that has largely died out. Orthodox Christian immigrants may wear lifelong black in the United States to signify their widowhood and devotion to their deceased husband.

After the Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856 in India, the status of widowhood for Hindu women was accompanied by a body symbolism{{Cite book|title=The Many Colors of Hinduism|last=Olson|first=Carl|publisher=Rutgers University Press|page=269}} - The widow's head was shaved as part of her mourning, she could no longer wear a red dot sindoor on her forehead, was forbidden to wear wedding jewellery, had to keep her bosoms uncovered and was expected to walk barefoot. These customs are still prevalent among some Hindus.{{cite news |title=On India's back roads, sati revered |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-dec-10-adfg-widows10-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |date=10 December 2006}}

In some parts of South Asia, a woman is often accused of causing her husband's death and is not allowed to look at another person as her gaze is considered bad luck.{{cite book|title=Violence Against Women|quote=widows in South Asia are considered bad luck|author=Kathryn Roberts|date=15 December 2018|page=62|publisher=Greenhaven Publishing LLC|isbn=9781534504714|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yRWDDwAAQBAJ}}{{cite news|url=https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-10-23/these-kenyan-widows-are-fighting-against-sexual-cleansing|title=These Kenyan widows are fighting against sexual 'cleansing'|publisher=pri.org|access-date=7 November 2018|date=23 October 2018}}

Some Nigerians prefer a widow to drink the water her dead husband's body was washed in, or otherwise sleep next to her husband's grave for three days.

In the folklore of Chiloé of southern Chile, widows and black cats are important elements that are needed when hunting for the treasure of the carbunclo.{{Cite book|title=Chiloé mitológico|last=Quintana Mansilla|first=Bernardo|author-link=Bernardo Quintana|language=es|chapter=El Carbunco|year=1972|chapter-url=http://chiloemitologico.cl/los-mitos-de-chiloe/mitos-terrestres/el-carbunco}}{{Cite book|title=Stories of the Southern Sea|last=Winkler|first=Lawrence|publisher=First Choice Books|year=2015|isbn=978-0-9947663-8-0|pages=54}}

File:Fleury-François Richard - Valentine of Milan Mourning her Husband, the Duke of Orléans.JPG, by Fleury-François Richard, 1802. A Troubadour style painting it depicts the aftermath of the Assassination of the Duke of Orleans in 1407.]]

File:Widows centre 4.jpg

In societies where the husband is the sole provider, his death can leave his family destitute. The tendency for women generally to outlive men can compound this.

The Bible has written several commandments about caring for the widow, the prohibition against harming her and the duty to make her happy during the holidays, for example: "Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns".(Hebrew Bible, Book of Deuteronomy 16:14)Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, [https://ph.yhb.org.il/en/12-01-11/ To Enjoy and Bring Joy to Others] in Peninei Halakha - Laws of the Festivals

In 19th-century Britain, widows had greater opportunity for social mobility than in many other societies. Along with the ability to ascend socio-economically, widows—who were "presumably celibate"—were much more able (and likely) to challenge conventional sexual behaviour than married women in their society.Behrendt, Stephen C. "Women without Men: Barbara Hofland and the Economics of Widowhood." Eighteenth Century Fiction 17.3 (2005): 481-508. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Sept. 2010.

It may be necessary for a woman to comply with the social customs of her area because her fiscal stature depends on it, but this custom is also often abused by others as a way to keep money within the deceased spouse's family."Imagine...." Widows' Rights International. Web. 14 Sep 2010. . It is also uncommon for widows to challenge their treatment because they are often "unaware of their rights under the modern law…because of their low status, and lack of education or legal representation.".Owen, Margaret. A World of Widows. Illustrated. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zed Books, 1996. 181-183. eBook. Unequal benefits and treatment{{clarify|date=September 2016}} generally received by widows compared to those received by widowers globally{{example needed|date=September 2016}} has spurred an interest in the issue by human rights activists. During the HIV pandemic, which particularly hit gay communities, companions of deceased men had little recourse in estate court against the deceased’s family. Not yet able to have been legally married the term widower was not considered socially acceptable. This situation was usually blessed with an added stigma being attached to the surviving man.

As of 2004, women in United States who were widowed younger are at greater economic hardship risk. Married women who are in a financially unstable household are more likely to become widows "because of the strong relationship between mortality [of the male head] and wealth [of the household]." In underdeveloped and developing areas of the world, conditions for widows continue to be much more severe. The United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (ratified by 135 countries) while slow, is working on proposals which will make certain types of discrimination and treatment of widows (such as violence and withholding property rights) illegal in the countries that have joined CEDAW.{{cite web|url=https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/ssb/v65n3/v65n3p31.html|title=The Economic Consequences of a Husband's Death: Evidence from the HRS and AHEAD|publisher=US Social Security Administration}}

In the United States, Social Security offers a Survivor's Benefit to qualified people once for a loss through their 50th birthday after which a second marriage may be considered when applying for benefits. The maximum still remains the same but here the survivor has options between accessing their earned benefits or one of their qualifying late spouses at chosen intervals to maximize the increased benefits for delaying a filing (i.e. at age 63 claim husband one's reduced benefit, then husband two's full amount at 67 and your own enhanced benefit at 68).

{{See also|Sexual cleansing#Widow cleansing|l2=Widow cleansing}}

In parts of Africa, such as Kenya, widows are viewed as impure and in need of cleansing. This often requires having sex with someone. Those refusing to be cleansed risk getting beaten by superstitious villagers, who may also harm the woman and her late husband's children. It is argued that this notion arose from the idea that if a husband dies, the woman may have performed witchcraft against him.

File:A widow.jpg

Use of widows in harem has been recorded in Ancient Egypt, medieval Europe, and Islamic empires.{{cite book|author=Joyce Tyldesley|title=Ramesses: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzbRBN6Ugr0C&pg=PT215|date=26 April 2001|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-0-14-194978-9|pages=215–}}{{cite book|author=Arun Kumar Sarkar|title=RAINBOW|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=snIVBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA64|date=30 September 2014|publisher=Archway Publishing|isbn=978-1-4525-2561-7|pages=64–}}

{{See also|Sati (practice)}}

Sati was a practice in South Asia where a woman would immolate herself upon her husband's death. These practices were outlawed in 1827 in British India and again in 1987 in independent India by the Sati Prevention Act, which made it illegal to support, glorify or attempt to commit sati. Support of sati, including coercing or forcing someone to commit sati, can be punished by the death sentence or life imprisonment, while glorifying sati is punishable with one to seven years in prison.

The people of Fiji practised widow-strangling. When Fijians adopted Christianity, widow-strangling was abandoned.{{cite web |title=Odd Faiths in Fiji Isles |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1891/02/08/archives/odd-faiths-in-fiji-isles-burial-customs-and-ideas-of-the-after-life.html |website=The New York Times |date=8 February 1891}}

{{See also|Witch hunts}}

Those likely to be accused and killed as witches, such as in Papua New Guinea, are often widows.{{cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/news/asia/21725040-law-criminalising-sorcery-was-only-repealed-2013-gruesome-fate-witches-papua-new|title=The gruesome fate of "witches" in Papua New Guinea|publisher=economist.com |date=13 July 2017 |access-date=23 July 2017}}

{{Main|Widow inheritance}}

Widow inheritance (also known as bride inheritance) is a cultural and social practice whereby a widow is required to marry a male relative of her late husband, often his brother.

The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856, enacted in response to the campaign of the reformer Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar,{{cite book|last=Forbes|first=Geraldine|title=Women in modern India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hjilIrVt9hUC&pg=PA23|access-date=8 November 2018|year=1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-65377-0|pages=23}} to encourage widow remarriage and provided legal safeguards against loss of certain forms of inheritance for remarrying a Hindu widow,{{cite book|last=Peers |first=Douglas M. |author-link=Douglas Peers |title=India under colonial rule: 1700-1885|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6iNuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=8 November 2018|year=2006|publisher=Pearson Education|isbn=978-0-582-31738-3|pages=52–53}} though, under the Act, the widow forsook any inheritance due her from her deceased husband.{{cite book|last=Carroll|first=Lucy |editor=Sumit Sarkar |editor2=Tanika Sarkar|title=Women and social reform in modern India: a reader|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GEPYbuzOwcQC&pg=PA78|access-date=8 November 2018|year=2008|publisher=Indiana University Press|isbn=978-0-253-22049-3|chapter=Law, Custom, and Statutory Social Reform: The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856|page=80}}

Social stigma in Joseon Korea required that widows remain unmarried after their husbands' death. In 1477, Seongjong of Joseon enacted the Widow Remarriage Law, which strengthened pre-existing social constraints by barring the sons of widows who remarried from holding public office.{{cite journal|title=The Invention of Chaste Motherhood: A Feminist Reading of the Remarriage Ban in the Chosun Era|last1=Uhn |first1=Cho|journal=Asian Journal of Women's Studies|year=1999 |volume=5 |issue=3|pages=45–63|doi=10.1080/12259276.1999.11665854}} In 1489, Seongjong condemned a woman of the royal clan, Yi Guji, when it was discovered that she had cohabited with her slave after being widowed. More than 40 members of her household were arrested and her lover was tortured to death.{{cite book|script-title=ko:성종실록 (成宗實錄) |trans-title=Veritable Records of Seongjong| language = ko-kr |date=1499|volume=226}}

In some parts of the world, such as Zimbabwe, the property of widows, such as land, is often taken away by her in-laws. While illegal, since most marriages are conducted under customary law and not registered, redressing the issue of property grabbing is complicated.{{cite news|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/01/24/zimbabwe-widows-deprived-property-rights|title=Zimbabwe: Widows Deprived of Property Rights|work=Human Rights Watch|access-date=5 June 2021|date=24 January 2017}}

• Estate planning
• Iddah
• International Widows Day
• Orphan
• Remarriage
• Single parent
• Sati
• Widow conservation
• Saint Bridget of Sweden

{{reflist|refs=

• Elder, Angela Esco. Love and Duty: Confederate Widows and the Emotional Politics of Loss (University of North Carolina Press, 2022) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=59390 online book review]
• Carolyn Osiek, "The Widow as Altar: The Rise and Fall of a Symbol," Second Century: A Journal of Early Christian Studies, 3,3 (1983), 159-169.
• Bonnie Bowman Thurston. The Widows: A Women's Ministry in the Early Church. Philadelphia, Fortress Press, 1989.
• Major, Andrea. Sati: A Historical Anthology. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2007. 463. Print.
• Owen, Margaret. A World of Widows. Illustrated. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zed Books, 1996. 181-183. eBook.
• Kruse, Britta-Juliane. Witwen. Kulturgeschichte eines Standes in Spätmittelalter und Früher Neuzeit. Berlin, de Gryter, 2007.
• Janet L. Nelson, "The wary widow," in Eadem, Courts, Elites, and Gendered Power in the Early Middle Ages: Charlemagne and Others. Aldershot, Ashgate, 2007 (Variorum Collected Studies Series: CS878).
• Sevak, Purvi, David R. Weir, and Robert J. Willis. "The Economic Consequences of a Husband's Death: Evidence from the HRS and AHEAD." Social Security Bulletin 65.3 (2003): 31-44. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Sept. 2010.
• Behrendt, Stephen C. "Women without Men: Barbara Hofland and the Economics of Widowhood." Eighteenth Century Fiction 17.3 (2005): 481-508. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 14 Sept. 2010.
• "Imagine...." Widows' Rights International. Web. 14 Sep 2010. .
• Elia, Nada. Trances, Dances, and Vociferations: Agency and Resistance in Africana Women's Narratives. New York: Garland Pub, 2001. Internet resource.
• Francis, Mary. "The Sisterhood of Widows" 2010 .

}}

• Blom, Ida. "The history of widowhood: a bibliographic overview." Journal of family history 16.2 (1991): 191-210. [https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=af937057cf59ed073e67fb3c6b90eeb67b885693 online]
• Blom, Ida. "Widowhood: From the Poor Law Society to the Welfare Society: The Case of Norway, 1875-1964." Journal of Women's History 4.2 (1992): 52-81. [https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/article/363253/summary excerpt]
• Bremmer, Jan, and Lourens Van Den Bosch, eds. Between poverty and the pyre: Moments in the history of widowhood. (Routledge, 2002) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Q7uHAgAAQBAJ&dq=widowhood++history&pg=PP1 online].
• Cattell, Maria G. "African widows: Anthropological and historical perspectives." Journal of Women & Aging 15.2-3 (2003): 49-66.
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• Crabb, Ann. The Strozzi of Florence: widowhood and family solidarity in the Renaissance (University of Michigan Press, 2000) [https://books.google.com/books?id=l3TCnLZJG3MC&dq=widowhood++history&pg=PP13 online].
• Elder, Angela Esco. Love and Duty: Confederate Widows and the Emotional Politics of Loss (University of North Carolina Press, 2022) [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=59390 online book review]
• Johansen, Hanne Marie. "Widowhood in Scandinavia-an introduction" Scandinavian Journal of History 29#3-4 (2004) pp: 171-191 https://doi.org/10.1080/03468750410008798.
• Kertzer, David I., and Nancy Karweit. "The impact of widowhood in nineteenth century Italy." in Aging in the past: Demography, society, and old age (1995): 229-248.
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• Zisook, Sidney, and Stephen R. Shuchter. "Major depression associated with widowhood." The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 1.4 (1993): 316-326.

{{Wiktionary}}

{{Commons category|Widows}}

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