Countries: Peru
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"Folopa and eight other survivors of forced sterilisation are weaving again for the first time in decades, as part of a workshop led by artist and anthropologist Alejandra Ballón Gutiérrez. They are using the millennia-old backstrap loom they abandoned after their operations. 'Can you believe it? It’s the first time I have woven in 27 years,' says Folopa. 'It hurts my tummy, but that is not what worries me. What if I’ve forgotten everything?' she adds in Quechua, shifting to find a more comfortable position on the ground. Using the loom, which is attached to the weaver’s waist, causes regular jolts to the abdomen as the ja’ulla, a wooden rod,...more

Countries: Gabon
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"The most common type of union is customary marriage, and 84 per cent of surviving spouses had contracted such a union with their deceased spouse" (26).

Countries: Nigeria
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-7, WR-PRACTICE-1, IW-PRACTICE-1

"In Becheve, once a lady is sold out for money marriage, her family considers her dead and under no circumstance is she to return to them. Even if she ends up being maltreated by the new husband, there is no way she can return to her parents. In worse cases where the husband dies, the money wife is then given to the late husband’s next of kin as a wife. However, if the money wife dies without bearing children, her parents would have to bring a replacement" (Para.15-16).

Countries: Somalia
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"A widow may remarry only after 4 months and ten days after her husband passes away per Islamic custom" (1).

Countries: Nigeria
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"The next day, Rose says she was taken to a village gathering, where she was asked to marry one of her husband's siblings or another man from the community. 'They said I should choose a husband in replacement of my late husband. I was shocked ... one of the men said I could choose my son and I did, but most of them were not happy with that option,' she says, her gaze fixed on her husband's photograph as she recounted the ordeal" (para 23-24).

Countries: Uganda
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"In some ethnic groups, men could “inherit” the widows of their deceased brothers" (p 29).

Countries: India
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"A landmark consensus agreed by Islamic scholars (Ulema) regarding the waiting period for ‘half-widows’ to remarry in four years will have an unprecedented impact on the lives of Kashmir’s forgotten survivors. Decades of conflict have produced many half-widows, women whose husbands have disappeared but are not yet declared deceased. Since most of the disappeared men are from rural Kashmir, these widows usually live impoverished lives often facing various socio-economic and emotional uncertainties such as lack of property rights, right to compensation and the right to remarry. The joint agreement means that the wives of Kashmiri men who have disappeared during the Kashmir conflict are allowed to remarry four years after...more

Countries: Afghanistan
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"Women who flee violent relationships don't necessarily want to marry again. Neither do widows who are often pressured to wed a brother of their husband so that their children have a male guardian" (para 5). "That decision [not to remarry] makes them among Afghan society's most vulnerable. Many are disowned by their families. They may be harassed or abused. And with 60 percent of the country unemployed, every woman must find a way to support her children" (para 6).

Countries: India
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"A Maharashtra state government order issued this week said the widows would also receive assistance with their children's education, and access to welfare benefits such as the rural jobs scheme" (para. 2). "Widows often face difficulty in claiming their husband's property and in receiving government compensation and other benefits, human rights activists said. 'The land does not get automatically transferred to the widow. It is often the husband's male relatives who will take it,' said Nirja Bhatnagar, a regional head at advocacy group ActionAid India. 'Woman are not even recognised as farmers. So having the land title in their name is crucial to enable them to take bank loans and...more

Countries: Equatorial Guinea
Variables: MARR-PRACTICE-7, MARR-PRACTICE-8, WR-PRACTICE-1, PW-PRACTICE-3

"Although not widespread, levirate marriage, the practice by which a man is required to marry his brother’s widow, occurred" (20).

Countries: East Timor
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"Some communities also continued the practice of forcing a widow to either marry one of her husband’s family members or, if she and her husband did not have children together, leave her husband’s home" (p. 14).

Countries: Tajikistan
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"Women were most likely to have seen a family planning message on television (45%). Eighteen percent had read a family planning message in a newspaper or magazine, and 12% heard a message on the radio. Nine percent of women were exposed to a family planning message through the Caravan of Health or the Program on Methods of Contraception. Very few women were exposed to family planning messages through mobile phones (2%). Almost half of women (49%) had no exposure to family planning messages through any of the five sources" (85).

Countries: Iraq
Variables: SMES-DATA-2, WR-PRACTICE-1

"The UN reported that displaced women, widows, and female-headed households were particularly vulnerable to abuse" (para 253)

Countries: Kenya
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"The Committee...remains concerned, however, about the persistence of...harmful practices, such as...widowhood rites such as widow inheritance" (5)

Countries: Palestine
Variables: WR-PRACTICE-1

"A woman whose husband dies does not received upkeep during the waiting period whether she is pregnant or not. The same is the case for the Christian communities" (68).