SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITIONS AND SOCIETAL BEHAVIOUR RESPONSES: EXPERIENCING THE PLIGHT OF WIDOWS IN JAMMU CITY

Abstract

Despite rapid advances in the standard of living among people worldwide, the condition of few sections of our population still remains vulnerable, especially , that of widows and divorced women. Death of the spouse, or separation (legal or otherwise), appears to affect both the sexes in different ways and the psychological effect of these events is immense especially among females, who are dependable on their partners. They are vulnerably absent from the statistics of many developing countries, and they are rarely mentioned in the multitude of reports on women's poverty, development, health or human rights.  Growing evidence of their sufferings, both socio economic and psychological, now challenges many conventional views and assumptions about this “invisible” group of women. The present study is focused on attitude by society and hardships faced by sample widows of urban Jammu, J&K state, India. The multiple sampling method was used to collect data among 50 selected widows from different regions of urban Jammu. Results revealed that most of the widows suffered negative response from society. Society considered them inauspicious. Even they faced hardships in living especially in economy.