In some countries, sadly, widows aren’t treated that way. They’re actually seen as a burden, even a curse.
“There are very different cultural aspects in every country, at how widows are treated and how they continue with their lives after they’ve lost their spouse. It’s not the same as the United States,” says Donna Glass of India Partners.
Widows in India
India is one of the countries that see widows as a curse.
“There’s an understanding or belief in India that…it’s because of [widows] that their husbands died–that they killed their husbands.”
For widowers in India, they are allowed to marry many times. Some men marry a month or so after their previous wife passed away.
But it’s not the same for women. “India has a belief that the widows should not remarry. No one would want to marry a widow because she caused the death of her husband,” Glass says.