#199 Widows for Peace with Margaret Owen OBE

In this episode, Margaret Owen OBE founder of Widows for Peace (WPD) highlights the plight of the world’s dark secret of marginalised ‘invisible’ widows: a vast and growing number of women of all ages living in extreme poverty, forgotten, abused and neglected internationally, nationally at grassroots levels.

Featuring:
Lily Thapa, Founder of WHR/SWg (women for human rights single women's group), Nepal
Jacqueline Musugani, Coordinator IFESIDI (women living in disastrous circumstances), East Congo
Lyudmyla Porokhnyak, President of the National Council of Women in Ukraine
Agaw Mabior, Founder, Women's Support Network Organisation in South Sudan
Roseline Orwa, Founder & Director, Rona Foundation, Kenya

You will hear from widows themselves – representatives of widows living in
conflict, in extreme poverty, living with cultures that treat widows as outcasts who
are forced to migrate, forced to take part in abusive and cruel widow rites and
much more. The plight of half-widows – who are they and why we should care.

You will discover that widowhood is the most neglected of all Human rights. The
failure to address marginalised widows of all ages by the international
community: by our Governments, Civil Society Organisations, The International
Criminal Court and at the UN Security Council.

You will learn about the systematic widespread dehumanisation of widows and
their families who have little or no recourse to justice, social protection,
healthcare and education.

Listen and learn that your voice makes a difference: you may think it doesn’t, but it does. Pressure your politicians and ensure they are widow-informed. Use your networks and platforms to offer widows the chance to use their voices, to tell their stories, to receive education and training so that they can be included at all peace tables, decision-making tables, consulted when legislation is written or passed – that it is fully widow-aware and widow-sensitive.