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<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/06/1041081"><span style="color:blue">https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/06/1041081</span></a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Georgia",serif;color:#333333">Ensure that Widows Are Not Left Out or Left Behind<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333"><img border="0" width="788" height="354" id="Picture_x0020_2" src="cid:image002.jpg@01D529BC.CC1709B0" alt="https://global.unitednations.entermediadb.net/assets/mediadb/services/module/asset/downloads/preset/assets/2018/06/22-06-2018_UNWomen_widows.jpg/image1170x530cropped.jpg"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:black">UN Women/Ryan Brown Photo -
</span><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666;letter-spacing:.6pt">A 38-year-old widow who lost her husband in the Central African Republic war escaped to the Ngam refugee site in the Adamawa region of Cameroon with her
five children; one of whom recently died.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333"> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#737373">22 June 2019 -
</span></b><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#4D4D4D">On International Widow’s Day, marked on Sunday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres is asking everyone to reflect on the “economic hardship and increased vulnerability”
of these bereaved women and ensure “they are not left out or left behind”. <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#4D4D4D"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">In the “absence of social and legal protection”, he said in his message, “widowed women’s lifetime earnings and
savings are often too little to avoid poverty”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">Even in countries with good pension coverage, “women are significantly more likely to suffer poverty in old age
than men”, he continued, pointing out that “social services are particularly important for older widows who may live alone or have greater need for elderly care services”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333"><img border="0" width="589" height="358" id="Picture_x0020_3" src="cid:image004.jpg@01D529BC.CC1709B0" alt="https://global.unitednations.entermediadb.net/assets/mediadb/services/module/asset/downloads/preset/assets/2019/06/07-06-2019-Guatemala_Mural4.jpg/image560x340cropped.jpg"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333">Rosalina Tuyuc Velásquez (2nd left) helped to set up the Center for Historical Memory of Women in San Juan Comalapa, bringing closure
for widows of Guatemalan conflict.) by UN Women/Ryan Brown<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#333333"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">In many countries, widows do not have the same inheritance rights as their male counterparts, “meaning that they
may be stripped of land, property and even rights and access to their own children”, according to the UN chief. “Even where laws do not discriminate, those rights need to be equally applied and enjoyed in practice”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">Moreover, in some societies, widows suffer marginalization, ill-treatment and violence, including sexual abuse,
harassment and forced remarriage. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">Mr. Guterres also shone a light on the vulneraries of widows in conflict and natural disaster, which are exacerbated
through loss and displacement and weakened social and legal protections, stressing that “norms that are used to justify” these discriminatory practices must be tackled. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">“On this international day, let us reaffirm our commitment to supporting all widows, regardless of age, location,
or legal system” ensuring that they are “not left out or left behind”, concluded the Secretary-General. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-margin-top-alt:16.5pt;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:8.25pt;margin-left:0in;background:white">
<b><span style="font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#0072BB">‘Unseen’ women <o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">For her part, the Executive Director of UN Women observed that while families sustain cultures and economies and
provide love, support and nourishment, “all too often”, they can also be “places of violence and discrimination for women and girls, with widows being some of the most affected, with little recourse”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">“When a woman’s value is contingent on having a husband, widowhood can force women out of family structures entirely,
leaving them particularly vulnerable to multi-dimensional poverty, loneliness and isolation” Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said in her message. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">Noting that poorer women are more likely to become widowed because of large spousal age gaps in poorer households
– often sustained by harmful practices like child marriage – and a lower life expectancy of poor men, she observed that “many widows also struggle to maintain economic security in the face of discriminatory inheritance laws”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">“Even in places where legislation exists to protect women from these situations, widows are often subjected to
eviction and property grabbing”, maintained Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka. “Despite being present in every society in significant numbers, widows remain largely unseen, with correspondingly weak support for the challenges they face”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">When a woman’s value is contingent on having a husband, widowhood can force women out of family structures entirely -- <i>UN Women
Chief<o:p></o:p></i></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background:white"><b><span style="font-size:15.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666"><o:p> </o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">While 2010 figures show that 14.6 per cent of women aged 55–59 globally were widowed, this does not capture the
full picture. Widows can also be child brides whose husbands died, leaving them with little or no inheritance, property or livelihood opportunities. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">“The struggle to support themselves and their children in these conditions sets women up for a lifetime of disadvantage
and fuels cycles of poverty across generations”, bemoaned the UN Women chief, underscoring that urgent action is needed “to better protect and sustain widows”. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">She noted steps that governments could take, including policy efforts toward supporting income security and economic
participation for the most vulnerable, such as widows. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:8.25pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica",sans-serif;color:#666666">“On this International Widows’ Day, we recognize widows in all their diversity, and acknowledge the need to integrate
them fully and visibly into our work on gender equality so that we break cycles of poverty and disadvantage and ensure that all widows can enjoy their full human rights”, Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka concluded. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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