Widowhood, the Root Cause of Perpetual Poverty

In determining the root cause of perpetual poverty across generations, an assessment of the innumerable causes of poverty must be undertaken. They fall into three main categories—social exclusion, economic vulnerability, and humanitarian crisis or injustice. An assessment of these categorical elements in relation to those most impacted by these factors of causation, we must determine the individuals furthest from the visible impact—the invisible group. Recalling the explanation given by Khanna, we agree that cultural stigmatization that is heavily placed on women, puts greater pressure on single women, and more specifically, widows. Exhibit 1 depicts the analysis of how widowhood creates an epidemic of perpetual poverty. 

The actions undertaken by the Global Fund for Widows and many other widows’ organizations around the world continue to try and unveil the correct statistics that represent the widowed population across the world, especially in non-Western countries, such as Asia and Africa. As discussed throughout this report, it can be determined that economic empowerment is the key to changing the lives of widows around the world and, thereby, reducing global poverty amongst generations. Exhibit 2 briefly summarizes how economic empowerment hinders the cycle of poverty at its very core. 


Widowhood-CSW60-Final-Report.pdf