We Also Love Her: The Irony of Familial Prejudice and Discrimination Toward Widowed Women

Abstract

This study investigates the role of close relatives who, while providing support, may also perpetuate prejudice and discrimination against women with widowhood status. Employing a qualitative methodology grounded in a multi-layered phenomenological approach, the research reveals that such prejudices and discriminatory practices are often subtle and normalized. These include perceptions that portray widowed women as incomplete or as bearers of misfortune; narratives that cast suspicion on women for allegedly enticing other men; accusations that they bring curses following consecutive spousal deaths; and the framing of widowhood as a destiny cloaked in affection, which in reality functions as a mechanism of social control.