EXTENT OF WIDOWHOOD IN INDIA: A REVIEW OF CENSUS 2011

Indian families are predominantly patriarchal. Males in the family are primary breadwinners and decision makers and have authority over other members and family property. Whereas females in the family are basically caregivers and look after children and household affairs. Certain demographic and personal circumstances outside one’s control such as death of male partner, feminization of ageing, informal or legal disruption of marriage, long term migration of male members of the family, leads to drastic change in the family organization. According to Census of India, 2011, it was seen that there is tremendous increase in the number of Female maintained and Female Headed Households in the country. Major proportion of these households constitute of the households that are headed by widows.

India has recorded the largest number of widows in the World. It is recently estimated that there are around 40 million widows in India, which approximately constitutes 10% of total female population in the country. 

This paper studies the increasing visibility of female widows in India. The specific objectives are to estimate and understand distribution of widows in India and to describe various profiles of widows in India. In the present study tables from, ‘Data on Marital Status’ from ‘Population Enumeration Data’ of Census of India, 2011 was referred and further analyzed for achieving better understanding of the social and economic condition of widows in India. Considering the scope of the study data about widows was curated from 3 tables- 1) Age group wise distribution of widows in urban and rural parts of the country. 2)Religion wise distribution of widows. 3) Age group wise widows who head their families. 

Widowhood may be defined simply as the transition from one marital status to another. But due to the severe complexity of its consequences in our social setup it draws the attention of sociologists and demographers. The consequences of widowhood to a woman are more hazardous than to a man since the society imposes a lot of restrictions on women. The widow has to undergo deprivation in social, psychological, cultural and economic terms. Present study is an attempt to explain the extent and spread of widows in different parts of India with respect to their age, religion and household headship. It is rather unfortunate that though the cause of widows in our society has attracted the attention of many social reformers, society's attitude towards widows has not appreciably changed in past decades. In this context, it is very important that social workers, voluntary agencies and the Government make a concerted effort to improve the life of widows. There is need to create a more favorable atmosphere for widow remarriages with the help of welfare organizations. The Government should also provide some kind of priority or reservation in jobs for widows and, at the same time, ensure self-employment by providing proper training and financial assistance.