Women in patriarchal India have never had it easy, and widows experience even worse. Already suffering from the loss of their husbands, Indian widows also face social and cultural exclusion and marginalization. If they are from the low-income strata, they are hardly accorded any dignity. They often suffer sexual harassment as well as physical and psychological abuse from their in-laws and society at large.
These days, widows in India are rising in number as the COVID-19 pandemic continues its rampage across the country and the rest of the world. Some private sector initiatives along with a couple or so local governments have taken notice of the women’s predicament, but it is evident that far too many widows are being left to fend for themselves.
Outside of agricultural work, there are very few livelihood options for India’s so-called “COVID widows.” While a few non-government organizations have started to provide monetary aid and skills training for these women, they are urging central and state governments to also do their part by setting up facilities to provide the widows more opportunities.
“State governments and social organizations should offer grief counseling to all COVID widows,” says Nirmal Chandel, who helps single women through Ekal Nari Shakti Sangathan (ENSS, or the Association of Strong Women Alone) in Himachal Pradesh in North India. “They have suffered loss, going through trauma. Now they have to take responsibility for their families. It is a sudden, major change.”
“The percentage of women in general and widows, in particular, owning property or land rights or having jobs is low,” Parmod Kumar of the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC) in Bangalore also points out. “Due to little or no education and jobs, it is extremely difficult for them to rebuild their lives after the sudden deaths of their husbands.”
Newly-widowed Rekha Gaikwad, for instance, has been left worrying where to get money to feed her two growing sons and to fund their education. Her husband, who passed away from COVID-19 last May, was a mechanic whose income was just enough for their everyday living. The 40-year-old Gaikwad is illiterate; she has begun working as an agricultural laborer for INR 200 (US$2.74) a day, but not enough work is available in her hometown in drought-ridden Maharashtra state.
“I used my savings, sold jewelry, and took a loan to pay the hospital bill of INR 50,000 (US$685) of my husband,” she recounts. “Doctors couldn’t save him as his oxygen level dropped to 39.”
She and her sons, who are both in their teens, have had to leave the two-room house they had called home for years. Says Gaikwad, “My brothers-in-law never visited us after attending the last rites of my husband. It was practically impossible to pay rent and stay there without any support.”
They are now staying with her parents and brother, who has disabilities. She does not want to become a burden to them and has been hoping for a share in her father-in-law’s farmland. But her in-laws stopped picking up her calls when they realized she wanted a share in the property. Gaikwad can go to court to stake her claim, but that means money and gathering all sorts of documents, which will take time and a whole lot of effort.
Multiplying widows
Gaikwad’s home state, Maharashtra, is actually the worst hit by the virus in India. At last count, its COVID-19 cases have already reached 6.3 million, with some 130,000 deaths.
“Maharashtra has at least 20,000 COVID-19 widows,” says Heramb Kulkarni, a state convenor of Maharashtra Corona Ekal Mahila Punarvasan Samiti (or the Corona Single Woman Rehabilitation Committee). “And women from poor socio-economic backgrounds or rural areas are vulnerable. Illiterate or barely studied and without employable skills, they need help. Most of them are currently struggling to repay loans they had taken to pay hospital bills for their husbands.”
As though echoing the story of Rekha Gaikwad, he continues, “Many women had to return to their parents’ houses as in-laws refuse to take care of them. Property like a house of farmland is not in their names. It leaves them at the mercy of their in-laws or parents.”
“COVID brought the issue of widows and single women at the forefront,” ISEC’s Kumar comments. “Government should make sure women get equal rights in properties.”
There are no available data on the number of women nationwide who have become widows because of COVID-19. But they are apparently a growing presence, with the phrase “COVID widow” now commonplace. India, after all, has had 30 million COVID-19 cases so far, and some 420,000 deaths. A study published by the Lancet also shows that over 90,000 fathers have died of COVID-19 in India.
India has 5.8 billion women out of a total population of 12.1 billion. Only 28.8 percent of Indian women work while a mere 49 percent of the women have had higher education. The workforce participation rate of women in India is 25.51 percent. Just 24 percent of women own agricultural or residential land or other real property.
India’s single women — including widows, and those who have been divorced, deserted, separated, or never married — number 74.1 million or 12 percent of the country’s total female population.
Rekha Gaikwad (left), 40, and her teenage sons moved back in with her parents, while Priti Valmiki, 35, has resorted to doing part-time work as a domestic helper to support her daughter and son. Both women continue to struggle after the deaths of their husbands. (Photos by Varsha Torgalkar)
State help falling short
“There are many existing schemes like widow pension,” says Kulkarni. “But beneficiaries often are not aware or find it difficult to reach the concerned [government] department. Government officials through special drives should reach out to COVID widows (so they could) avail themselves of the benefits of existing and special schemes for them.”
“As immediate relief, the government should offer monetary support through direct-bank-transfer to COVID widows,” Kumar of ISEC says. “They have to repay loans, feed family, and educate kids.”
“Public distribution systems should provide vegetable oil and pulses along with currently available grains to them on a priority basis,” he adds. “States should design special schemes for COVID widows and their families like free education to their kids and free healthcare.”
So far, though, only Assam state and Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) have pledged monetary help of INR 250,000 (US$3,422) and INR 100,000 (US$1,369), respectively, to COVID widows in their jurisdictions. The Ministry of Women and Child Development did not reply to an email from Asia Democracy Chronicles (ADC) regarding any initiative it is taking to help COVID widows. Maharashtra state officials also did not reply to calls, text messages, and emails from ADC.
Fortunately for some widows, social organizations have stepped up and are offering them financial and professional help. ENSS, for example, is helping more than 50 COVID widows in Himachal Pradesh; among other things, it walks the women through procedures so they can avail themselves of government benefits meant for them, and arrange legal support if needed.
COVID Women Help, based in Bangalore, meanwhile has been approached by more than 7,000 widows since the initiative began in May 2021.
“Over 25,000 volunteers offered help through grief counseling, job vacancies, and so on,” says Yudhvir Mor, who along with other like-minded individuals started the helpline. “We could place over 800 women till now and most of them in urban areas.”
“We realized that many COVID widows need skills training and monetary help,” he says. “We have begun to assist them with skills training as well.”
Financial aid and beyond
But while social activists welcome initiatives like these, they underline the limitations of such personal efforts. Many of them also strongly believe that the central and state governments need to make available facilities that would impart vocational skills to COVID widows and help them to get jobs.
Barring agriculture work, not many livelihood opportunities are available in rural India. Activists thus argue that women should be given preference in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme that ensures 100-day work to all in rural areas. Currently, however, men get the jobs with higher wages and are prioritized in employment schemes.
Yet financial concerns are just one among the many worries of COVID widows. One 35-year-old COVID widow in Orissa says that she decided to go home to her parents after her neighbor began harassing her and her in-laws could not do anything to stop him. In Maharashtra, Priti Valmiki has begun working as a daytime domestic helper, servicing two to three households at a time, because full-time work would mean no one would look after her two young children.
Valmiki’s husband was an accountant in a private company. He succumbed to COVID-19 last April.
“My in-laws are supportive,” says the 35-year-old who managed to reach seventh grade. “They paid the hospital bills of my husband, been taking care of me and my kids. They also buy me monthly rations and pay rent of our two-room house.”
But Valmiki, who was a contented homemaker a mere five months ago, says that life without her husband is not the same.
“Life looks meaningless now,” she says. “I was in a hospital for a week due to sudden shock, and for a month I was lying in bed. But I had to pick myself up for my two kids. I cannot make them orphans.”●
Varsha Torgalkar is a journalist based in Pune, India, She covers issues involving social justice, gender, climate change, and public health.
