- ReadwiseID: 11458656 - reimported on 2022-02-08 from reader - [l] related:: [[2021.11.08 Inheritance]] & [[2021.11.01 Marriage]] ## Highlights ### id242086028 most old women in Zimbabwe are widowed and vulnerable > Zimbabwe is home to around 587,000 widows, and most women aged 60 and over are widowed. Many of these older women are vulnerable to violations of their property and inheritance rights. Every year, in-laws evict thousands of widows from their homes and land, leaving them with no roof over their head, no means of income, and no support networks. Others face persistent harassment from in-laws who often accuse them of being responsible for the death of their husbands. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjwzfbemmwzgrfcp902b1aa9) ### id242086045 Zimbabwean women often struggle to prove their marriages > Zimbabwean law provides for relatively equal property and inheritance rights for men and women. However, many of the women Human Rights Watch interviewed struggled to claim those rights for reasons unique to their status as widows. In Zimbabwe’s recent history, men traditionally owned all family property, and when women were widowed, they were often “inherited” as wives by male relatives of their deceased spouse. In Zimbabwe today, wife inheritance is no longer the norm and property can be held by both men and women. However, few women formally own the property held in their marriage. As a result, their ability to keep the property they shared with their husband upon the death of their husband becomes dependent both on proving their marriage, which can pose great challenges, and on warding off in-laws intent on property grabbing. > [...] > Widows who decided to mount legal fights to keep their property told Human Rights Watch that they faced major barriers doing so. They described an array of procedural and practical hurdles. They said that they had to travel long distances to reach government agencies and courts; that correspondence about claims was often sent to family members of their late husbands, who had little interest in sharing it with them; and that court fees were prohibitive. > > Almost all of the women we interviewed who successfully reclaimed their property were assisted by nongovernmental organizations. Without this legal support, the barriers appear insurmountable for most widows. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjwzk1j1bffbex5ajtws8216) ### id242086054 customary laws conflicting with new formal laws harm vulnerable women > Widows also face strong social pressure to accept property-grabbing by in-laws, some of which, families assert, derives from interpretations of customary laws. Some families assert that under customary laws for their communities, only those “in” the family, i.e., men, are entitled to inherit land and property. Others say that within this customary system, widows will be protected and provided for by the male in-laws who inherit. But too often in the modern context, there is no such protection. While customary laws can evolve and change and can offer opportunities to advance women’s equality, they can also be interpreted or applied in ways that discriminate against women, especially widows - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjwzkf641nrgdg13p2zcdj77) ### id242087594 > Some customary norms reinforce widows’ socially weak position, including certain aspects of customary laws on marriage and on inheritance. This is especially true in communities with patrilineal inheritance, which practice descent through males - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjx08s6gq7fm36ef8bwdntdb) ### id242087631 bride-price customs complicate inheritance for widows > Proving a customary marriage is a serious burden and impediment for widows in the existing legal system. There is no clear moment when a customary marriage begins. A wedding ceremony may not take place. In prevailing cultures in Zimbabwe, at the start of a marriage, the groom’s family negotiates a bride price, or *lobola*, to the bride’s family. Sometimes this agreement is written, which, if in the possession of the widow, can be used to help prove the marriage. The *lobola* often includes some combination of cattle and cash. In other contexts, the practice of *lobola* may give the impression to family members of the husband that they have already paid money to the bride (even though wives do not receive any of the *lobola*) and therefore widows should not be entitled to inheritance upon the death of a husband - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjx0rvgvtqppn93jzh60ayzg) ### id242087632 > In most communities in Zimbabwe, women have traditionally left their own families upon marriage and moved in with their husbands on property shared with or adjacent to their husband’s family. This property is considered to belong to the husband or his family, often not registered in the name of the husband or wife.[23](https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/01/24/you-will-get-nothing/violations-property-and-inheritance-rights-widows-zimbabwe) Even though customary marriages should be registered with the government according to the Customary Marriages Act of 1997, Human Rights Watch found many of these marriages are not registered, leaving a widow without a certificate as evidence of the marriage.[24](https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/01/24/you-will-get-nothing/violations-property-and-inheritance-rights-widows-zimbabwe) Despite her contribution to the land and property (over 70 percent of women who are employed in Zimbabwe are employed in the agricultural sector), not having a certificate is a disadvantage when attempting to claim inheritance rights - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjx0sc26fcz99trhq7cyk6yc) ### id242087635 wife inheritance is tied to patrilineal control of land > According to informed sources in Zimbabwe, until recently, it was common for a widow to be “inherited” by a male relative of her husband, along with the couple’s property. In many cases, this amounted to a forced marriage, as the widow would believe that she had no choice but to marry the relative under customary practice. This form of “wife inheritance” or “widow inheritance” served to keep land and other property within the deceased husband’s family and was meant to protect the widow and surviving children. Zimbabwe has grappled with high rates of HIV prevalence since the late 1980s.[26](https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/01/24/you-will-get-nothing/violations-property-and-inheritance-rights-widows-zimbabwe) As the epidemic has continued, the practice of wife inheritance has decreased.[27](https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/01/24/you-will-get-nothing/violations-property-and-inheritance-rights-widows-zimbabwe) While it is a positive development that widows are less often forced to marry an in-law, some in-laws still feel entitled to the property of the deceased, and property grabbing continues - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjx0t0jexfqwqdt218p97ty8) ### id242087677 secret polygamy is common in Zimbabwe > Finally, polygamy remains common in Zimbabwe, creating additional complications and risks for widows. A 2010-2011 demographic and health survey found that 7.1 percent of urban women and 13.4 percent of rural women between the ages of 15 and 49 years knew they were in polygynous marriages in Zimbabwe.[31](https://www.hrw.org/report/2017/01/24/you-will-get-nothing/violations-property-and-inheritance-rights-widows-zimbabwe) Not all women know that they are in polygynous marriages. Some widows are surprised to find that other potential wives make themselves known only upon the passing of a husband. This is a source of great uncertainty. With multiple widows competing against each other and their husband’s family for property, a larger and more complicated fight can commence for a smaller share of the property. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjx0v32kpbd5r0e1qy6gh282) ### id242087816 widows in Zimbabwe have less power than their in-laws > dozens of widows told Human Rights Watch that their in-laws grabbed their property after their husbands died. They described myriad ways in which this happened. Widows said their in-laws threatened, physically intimidated, and insulted them. Some were forced out of their homes immediately. Others had distant in-laws turn up years after their husbands’ deaths, demanding property. Still others had their livelihoods constricted as in-laws stole or commandeered their productive assets like fields, cattle and other livestock, and gardens. They told Human Rights Watch how in-laws forcibly evicted them; attempted to obtain title to their land and marital homes behind their backs; sold off their inventory from family shops; and diverted their income from rental properties - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjx0x70w3f0gph4vjvt5pxyh) ### id242087817 > Widows also said that their in-laws had made the painful insinuation that the widows themselves might be responsible for the deaths of the husbands. Many widows told us how they lost everything. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjx0x9q8sdh9jr86cdb6qsfy) ### id242087834 village headmen in Zimbabwe can be as conflict-averse as middle managers > When my husband died in 2005, my brother-in-law said to go back to my family’s home…. I had been looking after the land and homes for decades. My brother-in-law told me: “I am not your father. You should not be here.” He has taken all of my fields and even tilled my yard [to plant crops] up to my doorstep. Now, he says that I cannot walk on “his” fields. He says that I do not belong there. I reported this to the village headman, but he just tells us to live in peace. - [View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01fjx0y243gx4efnjrz0nwm4x9)