Esther Mandelstamm/January 25, 2008/4:47pm/Gender Issues
In India, culturally women are very dependent on their husbands. There is stigma being a widow and women are cast out of their families and left to fend for themselves when their husbands die. The city Vrindavan in the state of Uttar Pradesh is referred to as the "City of Widows." Many widows come to this city after being abandoned by their families or to get refuge from their cruel relatives after their husbands die. There are about 15,000 widows that live in Vrindavan and the number is increasing. Many of these women make it by singing hymns in temples (known as bhajan ashrams) for about 6 hours a day for food and a small daily stipend of coins that equals about 15 cents a day. Some are left to beg on the streets wearing white sharis with their heads shaven according to custom. Even though Indian women are making progress in the workplace these widows in Vrindavan are still victimized by tradition. Not all of these women come voluntarily, many are taken there by their relatives who promise to come back for them, but never do. These women have little access to health care or government pensions, they are expected to "spend their days contemplating God, living a frugal existence, and awaiting death." Traditionally upper-caste Hindus are not allowed to remarry but at the same time, widowhood remains a stigma, especially in families that are less-educated and from rural areas. The religious institutions of Vrindavan do not do enough to help these women. Hundreds of women do find shelter from the government and private supports but this is a small minority of the total widow population. The Women and Child Development Ministry announced a plan to rehabilitate and retrain India's 33 million widows and try to get to them remarried but activists are skeptical saying that there is a long way to go before these women that are cast aside by society can overcome the stigma associated with widowhood.
This story is heart wrenching for me. I can not believe that these women are victimized because their husbands die. Not only do they have to lie with the pain of loosing a spouse as well as their family and their dignity within society. These women have to resort to earning cents a day and begging. It is very hard to believe that this is still going out in the 21st century but to these women this is very real. I am glad to hear that there is a plan of action to help these helpless women but I am afraid that it might be a hurdle that is too hard to jump. I am planning on following this story further in the future to see if there is any relief for these widows.
Friday, January 25, 2008
"Indian Widows Continue to Live Desperate Life in 'City of Widows'"
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4 comments:
Esther Mandelstamm
I some how forgot to add the link to my article and I don't know how to edit a post so here's the link....
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-01-24-voa22.cfm
Look how woman has come along ways here. I believe as time goes by we will see more and more of women in countries that men are more dominant, become more indepentant. It all boils down to how far advance and modern each country is.
In the old days women in India were forced by tradition to commit sati; that means that when their husband died, they would burn his body on a funeral pyre (Indians traditional method of disposal for the dead) and the wife would sit next to his body on the pyre and burn to death. So although it is still bad, and if you want to know more about present conditions, there is a fabulous movie called Water, made by Deepa Mehta, that follows the life of an eight year old child bride who is widowed, set during the time that Gandhi was travelling the country spreading his message of nonviolent protest against British colonial domination.
Customs such as this, even though it's not nearly as horrifying as sati, just go to show how far there is to go towards equality for women. I mean, India is basically saying that a woman has no value unless she is married
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