Study Looks at Persecution of Widows

Teaser:

Los Angeles Times: A new study posits the plight faced by widows as a human rights issue, many of whom suffer discrimination and abuse,and are trapped in poverty. The report found at least 245 million widows worldwide, almost half living in poverty, with the highest number of widows in China with 43 million, India with 42.4 million, the United States with 13.6 million, Indonesia with 9.4 million, Japan with 7.4 million, Russia with 7.1 million, Brazil with 5.6 million, Germany with 5.1 million, and Bangladesh and Vietnam with about 4.7 million each.

Editorial:

"At least 245 million women around the world have been widowed and more than 115 million of them live in devastating poverty, according to a new study released Tuesday by Cherie Blair, wife of the former British prime minister.

The most dire consequences are faced by 2 million Afghan widows and at least 740,000 Iraqi women who lost their husbands as a result of the conflicts in their nations; by widows and their children evicted from their family homes in sub-Saharan Africa; by elderly widows caring for grandchildren orphaned by the HIV/AIDS crisis; and by child widows ages 7 to 17 in developing countries, the report said."

Source:

Los Angeles Times

URL:

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-adfg-forgotten-widows-20100626,0,4850819.story

Date:

June 26, 2010

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