By CHARITY MOONGA  –
GENDER Links has bemoaned the increase in the number of widows in the sub-Saharan region.
This is according to the 2015 Global Widows Report which indicates that there is an estimated 22,153,905 widows in sub-Saharan Africa.
Gender Links has since called for solidarity with the widows throughout the region.
“Let us stand in solidarity with widows, many who are deprived of their rights and live in deep poverty,” the organisation said.
Gender Links made this statement following celebrations to mark International Widows Day which falls on June 23, every year.
In Zambia, Vice President Inonge Wina called for strategies to assist widows.
And the UN Women organisation said that it was sad that millions of widows around the world continued to struggle to claim their equal human rights after the loss of a husband,  an event that can lead to enduring poverty for women and their families.
The organisation said estimates were that there are 285 million widows around the world, with over 115 million of them living in deep poverty.
Data on women’s status are often not disaggregated by marital status, so at every level of gender statistics, from national to global, widows are not visible.
“Yet we know that many elderly widows face multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination, based on their gender, age, rural location or disability. Others are still young when they lose their husbands, perhaps as a result of conflict or because they were married as children to a much older man. These women face a long lifetime of widowhood,” the organisation said.
The UN Women pointed out that along with the shock of losing a spouse, the situation for widows is often compounded by stigma and social isolation.
In many countries, widows are stripped off their rights to assets such as land, income and property. Without access to social protection, they face destitution.
According to the World Bank Group’s Women, Business and the Law 2016 report, out of 173 countries, 90 per cent have at least one law limiting women’s economic participation, including constraints on their ability to inherit or own land.
Repealing these discriminatory laws is not only ethical, it is a mandate of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Action on these could impact the lives of millions of widows who are currently dependent on their husbands for their livelihoods.
The UN Women Fund for Gender Equality project has been training women in financial skills, and including them as members of a Savings and Lending Group.
The UN Women reiterated its determination to working with Member States and civil society on ensuring  human rights of widows.
This includes providing women with information on access to a fair share of their inheritance, land and productive resources; pensions and social protection that are not based on marital status alone; decent work and equal pay; and education and training opportunities.
There was need to empower widows to support themselves and their families and this also meant addressing social stigmas that created exclusion, and discriminatory or harmful practices, such as them being required to undergo a period of isolation and imprisonment, purification ceremonies to “cut the link” with their deceased husband, and pressed to remarry.