GLOCAL Vol.8

12/20

10Widows in Contemporary Societyfamily structure, rapid urbanization and both external and internal migration. As a corollary, elderly widows who are supposed to relys on their grown sons remain alone. 　 In the present era, globalization has allowed a strong basis for the organizations working on human betterment including women rights. Despite numerous codes of conduct and treaties at the international level relating to widows’ rights, on the ground of reality, a huge chasm and conflict still persists between the divergent traditional and modern values, which has immensely ruined the widows’ lives.Reference・ Birech, Jenniffer K. (2012). Widowhood and its challenges in urban areas. Germany: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing.・ Owen, M. (1996). A World of Widows. London: Zed Books Ltd.marriages”, (Owen, 1996:141). 　 Since the early times, the positions of widows in various societies and cultures resemble each other and are almost similar. Soon after the demise of her husband, splits occur not merely among proximate and immediate relationships, but she is also ejected from most of auspicious functions, congregations, and economic matters of the family. Similarly, in most of the circumstances, widows and their children are viewed with contempt and suspicion by their own families as well as by their neighbors. However, the contexts of widowers, are extremely distinct. Some societies, view them with pathetic feelings and allow them remarriage within a short period of time. Unfortunately, widows in most societies are neither free to remarry nor allowed to resist against new conjugal arrangements. In the meanwhile, plights of elderly widows in both the developing and developed countries often remain an untouched chapter. In the last two decades, rapid industrialization has shifted the traditional forms of society to modern ones. The rapidity of development is instrumental for the transition of 国際人間学研究科　国際関係学専攻　博士後期課程1年ネパール出身。2013年3月名古屋産業大学大学院修士課程を修了。2014年4月中部大学国際人間学研究科博士後期課程に入学。ネパールにおける未亡人の地位について研究するかたわら災害活動にも参加。Thapa Kabita（タパ　カビタ）　 The term widow is a familiar word among us. However, the practices of widowhood which vary across di erent regions, cultures, norms and more overly sway over the inheritance of ancestral property are not identical. “Widowhood is a state or period of being widow or widower. A widow is a woman whose husband has died and has not remarried”, (Birech, 2012).　 In the context of developed countries, widow reflects the image of an elderly woman. However, the cases are not always the same, civil war and the rebellions or terrorism and the pandemic of HIV/AIDS have proliferated the ratio of young widows. If we look at the cases of numerous countries in South Asia, the Middle-East, Central and Eastern Europe and unforgettably Africa, it explicitly reveals the thrive in the number of young widows, propelling those widows in the dearth of economic and emotional distress and dependence on social and service support systems. “Millions of children of widows live in wretchedness and poverty, often withdrawn from education and exploited in child labor or forced into early and unfortunate types of