A widow is a woman whose spouse has died. A man whose spouse has died is a widower. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or viduity. The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view. ...

Widowhood has been an important social issue, particularly in the past. In families in which the husband was the sole provider, widowhood could plunge the family into poverty, and many charities had as a goal the aid of widows and orphans. This was aggravated by women's longer life spans, and that men generally married women younger than themselves. A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find. ... This article refers to the act of selfless giving, and organizations which facilitate selfless giving. ... Alternative uses: see orphan (typesetting), and orphan process in computing. ...

However, in some patriarchal societies, widows were among the most independent women. Widows sometimes carried on their husbands' businesses and were consequently accorded certain rights, such as the right to enter guilds. Patriarchy (from Greek: patria meaning father and arché meaning rule) is the anthropological term used to define the sociological condition where male members of a society tend to predominate in positions of power; with the more powerful the position, the more likely it is that a male will hold that... A guild is an association of people of the same trade or pursuits (with a similar skill or craft), formed to protect mutual interests and maintain standards of morality or conduct. ...

There were implications for sexual freedom as well; although some wills contained dum casta provisions (requiring widows to remain unmarried in order to receive inheritance), in societies preventing divorce, widowhood permitted women to remarry and have a greater range of sexual experiences. The Wife of Bath in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales refers to having been widowed five times, permitting her greater sexual experience. In the common law, a will or testament is a document by which a person (the testator) regulates the rights of others over his property or family after death. ... Divorce or dissolution of marriage is YOUR MUM the ending of a marriage before the death of either spouse, which can be contrasted with an annulment which is a declaration that a marriage is void, though the effects of marriage may be recognized in such unions, such as spousal support... The Wife of Baths Tale is a tale from Geoffrey Chaucers The Canterbury Tales. ... Chaucer: Illustration from Cassells History of England, circa 1902. ... Canterbury Tales Woodcut 1484 The Canterbury Tales is a collection of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century (two of them in prose, the rest in verse). ...

In some other cultures, widows are treated differently. For instance, in India there is often an elaborate ceremony during the funeral of a widows' husband, including smashing the bangles, removing the bindi as well as any colorful attire and making the woman wear white clothes. Earlier it was compulsory to wear all whites after the husband was dead, however in modern day culture this has gradually given way to regular colors. Underwater funeral in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea A funeral is a ceremony marking a persons death. ... The Bangles were a popular American pop band of the mid 1980s, one of the new generation of independent all-women bands that followed The Go_Gos. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Tilaka. ...

See also

• bereavement
• black widow
• Grief's Journey (focuses on spousal loss)
• orphan
• The Merry Widow
• Free Bench