Nepali Widows Say "No Thanks" to Being Treated Like Commodities

The Nepali goverment's misguided decision to pay men to marry widowed women has outraged women's rights groups, according to Women's eNews.

It's not just an affront to women's dignity as people, but also a dangerous tactic that can encourage human trafficking by unscrupulous men who marry for the dough then sell their new wives on the open market. Or, the husbands-for-hire might take the cash and dash, leaving the woman just as vulnerable and as bad, or worse, off than before. After all, what kind of husbands do they think women are going to be able to catch by flashing a few dollar signs, if they were previously unable to remarry?

It's true that the situation for women who lose their husbands in Nepal is bleak: while they're no longer tossed on the deceased husband's funeral bonfire to be burned alive, these woman are still considered unlucky, prohibited from celebrations, restriction in their food and clothing, and mistreated by relatives. But Women for Human Rights (WHR), a group that works toward rights for widows, would rather see empowerment and a change in cultural attitudes than the "buying and selling of women" the government proposal entails, and at a time when they are trying to get rid of the dowry system.

WHR, which prefers to refer to widows as "single women" to take the focus off their status in relation to their deceased spouse, thinks that money could be better spent on services for women or directly given as an allowance to struggling low-income single women. Most of these single ladies don't even want to marry for a second time -- they just want a way to live and provide for their children in a society with some serious stigma directed toward them.

Too bad the Nepali government has shown that it believes putting a price tag on women and passing them off onto mercenary husbands is a much better idea than actually supporting their independence and self-sufficiency.

Photo courtesy of Sukanto Debnath's Flickr photostream.