The opinions expressed herein are those of the author, and not necessarily those of The New Agenda.

Cherie Blair has been promoting the cause of Widows for over 5 years, as an issue that greatly impacts women in the US and the rest of the world, in terms of their economic and social status.

Widowhood is a status that impacts the lives of many women worldwide, including in the US and western countries.  The American Association of Retired People reports that  6% of the overall population of the Western nations are widows,  and this grows to about 1/3 of the population over 65 years old.  How this impacts women? Women comprise the majority of widows with respect to men, in a proportion of 5 to 1. (American Association of Retired People).  Additionally while widowers (men in widowhood status) exist in much less numbers, these marry at a rate eight times those of widows (women in widowhood status). Thus, women facing economic, emotional and health issues by themselves is considered more of the common rule (American Association of Retired People).

In 2005, Blair, the former first lady of the UK, as president of The Loomba Foundation, declared June 23 as the International day of Widows. Since then she has been working along with the foundation to get the United Nations to officially recognize this day as a means to create more awareness about this issue as one that has impact not only on the women themselves in terms of poverty (including in western countries), but also in terms of the children they raise.  Blair joined the foundation since 1998 as a patron and as its president. Blair has recently appeared in several media outlets promoting this years International Day of Widows (Loomba Foundation).

According to the Foundation, there are 245 million widows world wide, of which over 40% live in poverty.  Blair argues that poverty is not the only challenge widows face, but also the mistreatment and abuse of women in many countries leave widow women very vulnerable to predatory men, and “exposing them to disease, slavery, rape, loss of schooling, homelessness, human trafficking and forced labor” (Loomba Foundation) .

Cherie Blair wants to channel resources to assist women widows and to educate the public about the impact of the existing (to a greater or lesser degrees in different countries) value system and customs on how widowhood is experienced, and on the total population as a whole.  Blair explained that she used to think of widows as “old” people, but as research has shown, due to conflict and health issues like AIDS, considerable numbers of young women (in some countries the average widow women are 24 years old) become part of this statistic.

In the United States, the median income as a percent of  the average retired worker’s income ($1,203) is 53 % (that is, the median income of an aged widow is $637.59 per month); and 41% of aged widows live in poor or near poor status (US Census, the Survey of Income and Program Participation).

Raj Loomba, who initiated the foundation in memory of his widowed mother who raised him under very difficult conditions, stated that widows “are the poorest of the poor, and the reason they are is because the are invisible and forgotten sufferers. They are depending on us to change this situation” (Loomba Foundation).

Blair, also known as Cherie Booth, while joining the Loomba Foundation in 2005 said that “We hope to raise awareness of the living conditions of widows in developing countries and to aid in finding a solution to this injustice against women. We are confident that the U.N. will recognize the need to draw attention to this critical issue.”

Indeed, the treatment of widows can be considered as one reflection of our cultural attitudes towards women, which we need to fundamentally address.