Widows: An Overlooked Demographic
We often connote widowhood with old age. Losing a spouse, if it has to happen, occurs at the end of life. A widow may live out her days knitting. Or sewing. Or reading on the back porch.
Of course, this perception is just a cliche. Widowhood is a tragedy that can happen at any age, any time of life. Unfortunately, in many countries, becoming a widow doesn't mean just losing your husband, it also can also mean losing family, home, identity, and livelihood.
According to a new study entitled "Invisible Forgotten Sufferers: The Plight of Widows around the World" commissioned by the Loomba Foundation, an organization that advocates for widows, at least 245 million women around the world have been widowed.
More than 115 million of these women are trapped in devastating poverty. Worldwide, widows suffer dreadful prejudice and discrimination. Many are cheated out of their husbands' assets and property and expelled from the family home. In most developing country contexts, widows are barred from remarriage.
Stigmatized. Ostracized. Forced to live on the margins of society. Left vulnerable to abuse and exploitation.
To make matters worse, over 500 million dependent and adult children of widows are caught in a vicious underworld in which disease, forced servitude, homelessness, and violence are rampant and young children are denied schooling, enslaved, or preyed upon by human traffickers.
The situation isn't just tragic; it's a human rights catastrophe and humanitarian crisis.
But, it doesn’t have to be. Social entrepreneurs have an opportunity to use their unique skills to create a better life for these women.
Last week, in a blog post, I talked of a socially entrepreneurial initiative employing and training former sex-workers in Kolkata and the opportunity for social enterprise to employ and provide livelihoods to subsections of society that are excluded. In the developing world, widows are a largely excluded demographic.
Here sits an opportunity for a social entrepreneur to step up to the plate to change this scenario. Since widows often have to become the sole earner in their family, livelihood opportunities need to be created. Could these women be a pool of overlooked productive labor? There are vocational training institutes across India. Could we create a training institute that focuses on widows or offers a certain percentage of its seats to widows? Could Indian franchises like Café Coffee Day and Crossword Books partner with an organization like Loomba to create an employment pipeline? Could we teach these women how to start and run their own businesses?
Simultaneously with this, we need to create awareness and change attitudes. Cherie Blair, wife of the former British Prime Minister and president of the Loomba Foundation, is busy campaigning for UN recognition of International Widows Day. Imagine the potential if we all rallied around this cause.
According to the report, the countries with the highest number of widows in 2010 were China with 43 million, India with 42.4 million, the United States with 13.6 million, Indonesia with 9.4 million, and Japan with 7.4 million.
These numbers are staggering - and a very good starting point for driven social entrepreneurs. With their size, these numbers present an incredible opportunity for social entrepreneurs to harness this demographic in a productive capacity, creating livelihoods and social impact along the way.
- Adrienne Villani
Photo Credit: Loomba Foundation
"When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world." George Washington CarverWhat is Social Entrepreneurship?Statement of Faith
Since it's inception almost a year ago, our "Twitter Social Enterprise of the Day" feature has gained quite a following. Each week we profile five social enterprises working for a particular cause in different developing country contexts.
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