Last week, hundreds of Widows in Alego were visited by a Widows Empowerment Initiative in Nyanza.
As a widow, nothing hurts as the feeling of abandonment and the despondency that comes with it.
Talking to my fellow widows who are enrolled in a widows’ empowerment program, I can sense some renewed energy and bigger and better smiles.
Widows go through several painful things that can't be understood by those who have never gone through the experience.
Apart from the material support, we are getting capacity development through training in business skills and other social skills that help us to settle well.
Many people ignore the social and psychological elements of widowhood.
We have been given a new lease of life in a way that has never been seen before.
According to a World Bank Study Titled “Marital Shocks and Women Welfare in Africa” The marital experience is remarkably gendered in Sub-Saharan Africa and African men spend far more of their lives married than do African women.
From their early thirties to their early eighties, over 80 per cent of all men are married.
In contrast, the share of married women peaks at around 30 and lasts a much shorter period, dropping below 80 per cent just after age 40.
The drop is then precipitous and mirrored by a steady rise in the share of widows.
By age 65, there are as many widows as there are married women; by age 80, 80 per cent of women are living in widowhood. All along the age distribution, the share of divorcees is also higher among women than men.
These patterns reflect several factors including far higher male remarriage rates following widowhood or divorce, large spousal age gaps, higher average life expectancy of women, the practice of polygamy, and the ravages of HIV.
As a result, one in ten African women 15 and older are widows, and 6 per cent are divorcees. And these women are likely to head their households -72 per cent of widows are heads of the family.
In Africa, many are also quite young across the region, 3 per cent of all women aged 15-49 are widows at any one point in time, and accounting for those who have remarried, 5 per cent are ever-widowed.
These statistics are worrying.
The country stands to benefit more if Widows are seen as a huge factor in development and their affairs get attention.
This is because many lose productivity as soon as they become widowed, and if you look at the above figures you will realize that a major segment of the society is being ignored, yet with a support network they can help in improving society.
Millicent Omondi is a widow based in West Alego
