Widows in India : Social Neglect and Public Action

Contents: Preface. Introduction. I. The Ideology of Widowhood: 1. Gender, caste and labour: the ideological and material structure of widowhood/Uma Chakravarti. 2. Sexuality, unchastity and fertility: economy of production and reproduction in colonial Haryana/Prem Chowdhry. 3. Widows versus daughters or widows as daughters? Property, land and economic security in rural India/Bina Agarwal. II. The Demographics of Widowhood: 4. Widowhood and mortality in India/P.N. Mari Bhat. 5. Widowhood and aging in India/Leela Gulati. III. Widows and Property Rights: 6. Widows in a tribal setting in West Bengal/Lotika Sarkar and Narayan Banerjee. 7. Land rights of widows in Rajasthan/Shobha Nandwana and Ramesh Nandwana. 8. Widows and property rights: a study of two villages in Bihar/Seema Misra and Enakshi Ganguly Thukral. 9. Widows, land rights and resettlement in the Narmada Valley/Bela Bhatia. 10. Widows, family support and land rights: case-studies from Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar and Gujarat/Neelam Gorhe, Chandra Bhandari and Bela Bhatia. IV. Widows and Social Security: 11. The pension scheme for widows in Tamil Nadu/K.V. Eswara Prasad. 12. Social security of widows in Gujarat/Varsha Bhagat Ganguly. 13. Social security for widows: a study of pension schemes in Kerala/I.S. Gulati and Leela Gulati.

V. Widows, Poverty and Employment: 14. Widowhood and poverty in rural India: some inferences from household survey data/Jean Dreze and P.V. Srinivasan. 15. The poor widows of Kootam: a study of widows in a squatter settlement/Leela Gulati. 16. Jayamma : Profile of a widowed brick worker/Leela Gulati and Mitu Gulati. 17. Women's employment status by Marital status in Haryana/D.V. Rukmini. 18. Self-employed widows: some experiences from Gujarat/Renana Jhabvala. VI. Widows and Public Action: 19. Partition widows: the state as social rehabilitator/Ritu Menon and Kamla Bhasin. 20. Social action with rural widows in Gujarat/Bela Bhatia. Appendices. Index.

"There are more than 33 million widows in India, comprising about 8 per cent of the total female population of the country. Despite this, little is known about the actual living conditions of widows, about the quiet deprivations they experience on a daily basis. They are rarely mentioned in the literature on poverty, in public debates on social policy or even by the women's movement. This important volume of original essays and case studies is aimed at bringing about a better understanding of the social and economic conditions of widows, to focus attention on widowhood as a social problem and to promote public action and policies in support of widows in India.

"The first three papers explore the dominant ideological construction of widowhood in India as well as variations in local customary norms. The next section, on the demographics of widowhood, includes a significant paper by P.N. Mari Bhat which eloquently demonstrates that mortality rates among widows in the 45 plus age group are 85% higher than those for married women in the same age group.

"The volume then turns to four key areas for public policy and action in support of widows: property rights, social security, employment and social identity. The contributors highlight how customary law and institutionalized gender inequality combine to drastically restrict the human, physical and financial resources available to widows, thus making them economically vulnerable. They also discuss governmental and non-governmental efforts to 'rehabilitate' widows.

"Weaving together analytic essays, hard data and poignant case studies, this comprehensive and pioneering volume on the social and economic status of widows in India will be of interest to those in the fields of gender studies, sociology, demography and social policy, as well as NGOs and policy-makers."

[Martha Alter Chen is Development Advisor, Harvard Institute for International Development and Lecturer, Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, USA.]