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A lack of assets can exacerbate & perpetuate the negative welfare effects of marital shocks

In Africa, women marry young & much older husbands;

Widowhood is a common & potentially devastating shock for women & their children

– Evidence that widows & past widows are significantly worse off & less able to provide for their children.

– Similar patterns for divorcees– Lower welfare persists through remarriage. – Detrimental effects are passed on to children

Dominique van de Walle World Bank June 2012

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• Women typically …

– Have lower individual endowments– lower access to & control over household & community

resources/assets – Face more rigid social norms– Have lower legal protection

Hence women have little capacity to cope with marital shocks & limited options…

Why?

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A widow’s options:

• In some regions (e.g. Mali, Burkina, Senegal), widows remarry, often into polygamous h’holds as lower status wives– One option: levirate marriage; allows her to keep children

• Elsewhere (e.g. South Eastern Nigeria), widows do not remarry; often shunned, ostracized, dispossessed.

In such circumstances, assets (human, physical, financial) are a life saver

Senegal– Importance of a shelter/dwelling – Education or job– Sons– Gratuity/pension– Parents/brothers alive & willing to take in the widow & her children

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Operational and Policy implications

Difficulty of changing the situation through laws: • low awareness; • lack of access to formal judicial system; lack of financial

resources to mount legal challenge• social pressures to conform to traditional norms; risks to widow• fear of reprisals from lineage for violating customary law

Serious source of vulnerability and intergenerational transmission of poverty– safety nets should take this into account

Independence & greater certainty through a steady source of income would give widows more control over their & their children’s destinies.