Widows and Widowhood: From Rites to Rights

The phenomenon of barbaric widowhood rites practices within traditional communities has severely retarded gender equality development perspectives between men and women within such societies. A widow suffers much from psychological and physical damages in health and well-being because of the unfortunate loss of her husband and this severely deter the expected development potentials of most local women within concerned localities. In order to address the issues at stake, the author highlights exemplary cases of cruel practices and reflects their negation to principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Against Women; and their rights to violence-free development. Also pressing on the obligations of public authorities and the civil society towards protecting widows' and their orphan children, the book serves as an important rights based resource to widows empowerment and freedom towards their inherent human dignity.