Empowering Widows: Overcoming Challenges and Discrimination
There are stories of empowering widows from the shadows helping them overcome isolation, gender violence, and barriers.
Kenyan refugee Rosemary Kariuki was honored as Australia’s 2021 “Local Hero” for her work helping other displaced women overcome isolation and gender violence.[1] Now 61, she is a multicultural liaison officer for the New South Wales Police in Campbelltown on the outskirts of Sydney, also helping women overcome language, financial and cultural barriers.
In the past, Kariuki helped start the African Women Group to give women a chance to dance, socialize and dine together while they shared information about various issues. The UN Refugee Agency, which chronicled her story, said her work is especially vital as the impact of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic is making inequalities and discrimination faced by refugee women and girls that much worse.
“It has been very challenging but it hasn’t stopped us,” Kariuki said. “There’s a lot of mental health issues happening, and a lot of domestic violence coming out, a lot of helplessness. Most of the women have lost their jobs or they’re not doing anything at home and are falling into depression.”[2]
Such attention is much needed, said the founder of the Rona Foundation, which supports women in rural areas of Kenya. In a blog for the London School of Economics, Roseline Orwa talked about how widows in Kenya often suffer depression, anxiety and substance dependance that is largely ignored.[3] While pockets of organized groups are calling for change, grassroots solutions and awareness are needed along with education reform and social change, she wrote.
“More than claiming their rights, widows need to become moral authority advocates and community duty-bearers, encouraging young adults to champion such rights,” Orwa said. “Only in this way can we create progressive change with effective leadership structures. Because no woman should lose her rights and dignity when she loses her husband.”[4]
This kind of disparity is what drove a group of American military widows to push for the successful repeal of the “Widow’s Tax.”[5] January of 2022 marked the start of the second year of a three-year phaseout of a program that had reduced widows’ payments.
The tax had required forfeiture of a dollar of benefits given to survivors of veterans who died of service-related causes (the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation program) for every dollar of benefits received under a separate, life insurance-type program known as the Survivor Benefit Plan. That meant the loss of up to $1,000 a month for 67,000 surviving spouses. Cathy Milford was one of those who fought for 25 years to receive full survivor benefits before Congress passed legislation to eliminate the tax after 2023.
“This is just an awful thing to do,” said Milford—whose husband suffered a fatal aneurysm soon after retiring from the U.S. Coast Guard—at a rally prior to the congressional vote that resulted in the repeal. “Every time I talk about this, I have to dig my husband up and bury him all over again.”[6]
Through your partnership with GFA World’s Widows Ministry, you become a lifeline for these women who find themselves in desperate situations. Your generous contributions provide them with tangible assistance that eases their burdens and brings much-needed relief. As GFA workers engage with these widows and their children, they not only address their physical needs but also share the transformative message of Christ’s love and offer them a glimmer of hope.
Learn more about the plight of widows
[1] Mitchell, Brook. “The Kenyan powerhouse improving women’s lives in Australia.” United Nations Refugee Agency. https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/stories/2021/3/6042455f4/kenyan-powerhouse-improving-womens-lives-australia.html. March 8, 2021.
[2] Mitchell, Brook. “The Kenyan powerhouse improving women’s lives in Australia.” United Nations Refugee Agency. https://www.unhcr.org/en-us/news/stories/2021/3/6042455f4/kenyan-powerhouse-improving-womens-lives-australia.html. March 8, 2021.
[3] Orwa, Roseline. “Kenya: education, stigma and widow cleansing.” LSE Blogs. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2019/05/23/kenya-widow-cleansing-health-crisis/. May 23, 2019.
[4] Orwa, Roseline. “Kenya: education, stigma and widow cleansing.” LSE Blogs. https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2019/05/23/kenya-widow-cleansing-health-crisis/. May 23, 2019.
[5] Shane, Leo III. “Will the military ‘widows tax’ disappear this year?” Military Times. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/05/21/will-the-military-widows-tax-disappear-this-year/. May 21, 2019.
[6] Shane, Leo III. “Will the military ‘widows tax’ disappear this year?” Military Times. https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2019/05/21/will-the-military-widows-tax-disappear-this-year/. May 21, 2019.