International celebration highlights support for widows
International Widows Day is observed on June 23, to address the poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependents in many countries, including Ghana.
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The celebration was launched by Lord Loomba and the Foundation's President, Cherie Blair, with the observance of the first event taking place in 2005.
The Loomba Foundation established the day to raise awareness of the issue of widowhood. The significance of June 23 is that it was on that day in 1954 that Shrimati Pushpa Wati Loomba, the mother of the foundation's founder, Lord Loomba, became a widow.
On December 21, 2010, the United Nations General Assembly formally adopted June 23 as International Widows Day. Since that time, the scale of the event has grown, with events across the world timed to commemorate the day.
According to the UN, of the 245 million widows worldwide, an estimated 115 million are currently living in poverty and 81 million suffer physical abuse, social stigmatisation and economic deprivation purely because they have lost their husbands.
Sixth National Widows Alliance Conference
Delivering the keynote address at the sixth National Widows Alliance Conference organised by the Mama Zimbi Foundation at the Trade Fair Centre, La in Accra, on Saturday to commemorate the event, a former First Lady of Ghana, Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, stated that widows still formed a vulnerable group in the Ghanaian society due to the lack of awareness of the Intestate Succession Law.
She said the lack of access to legal redress and lack of confidence in the judicial system further compounded the situation of widows in the country.
Nana Agyeman-Rawlings said: “Widows still face some forms of discrimination and continue to succumb to abuse because of an ingrained belief system, because of fear of retribution from their communities, because of lack of a support system, because of lack of awareness and education.”
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The former First Lady noted that African women were caught in a continuous struggle with traditions, cultural norms and societal practices that disempowered and discriminated against them.
Education
Nana Agyeman-Rawlings, therefore, called for education to equip women with knowledge, skills and self-confidence to contribute to development at all levels
“We are all too familiar with the millions of widows on our continent whose husbands died in armed conflicts, in genocides, from natural disasters and diseases such as HIV and AIDS and malaria, and are living in poverty. The Ebola virus, according to WHO, has already claimed 337 lives in West Africa. This was announced last week. How many women have been left without their husbands because of this deadly virus? How many children have lost their fathers?” Nana Konadu asked.
She described the commemoration of the International Widows Day by the Mama Zimbi Foundation as a call to action to raise awareness of the plight of widows and described as admirable the dedication of Mama Zimbi to the empowerment of women.
“When an African woman loses her husband in a society that already discriminates against her by virtue of her gender, she is viewed as impure and treated inhumanly. The extent to these discriminatory practices varies from culture to culture on our continent. However, what remains a constant factor is the violation of the rights of widows,” she said.
Intestate Succession Law
She said Ghana was one of the few countries in Africa that had passed legislation that ensured that widows and their children were granted a fair share of the estate of the deceased and called for sustained education to create awareness of the Intestate Succession Law.
Nana Agyeman-Rawlings said the commemoration of International Widows Day was a decisive stance against indignity and a call to action.