{"id":4742,"date":"2024-10-07T09:15:55","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T09:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=4742"},"modified":"2024-10-07T09:15:57","modified_gmt":"2024-10-07T09:15:57","slug":"matabeleland-regions-dominate-with-high-number-of-widows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/?p=4742","title":{"rendered":"Matabeleland Regions Dominate with High Number of Widows"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><br>Innocent Sibonginkosi Ncube<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matabeleland North and South provinces in Zimbabwe have the highest number of widows, according to a 2024 government survey by the Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee (ZimLAC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The report reveals that Matabeleland South has 27.3% of household heads who are widowed, surpassing the national average of 23.6%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Key Findings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Female-Headed Households: 37.7% of households are female-headed, with Matabeleland North having the highest proportion at 44.3%.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Education: 87.9% of household heads have received some form of education.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Religion: Most household heads belong to the apostolic sect (34.7%), followed by Pentecostal members (12.2%).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Health Challenges: 10.1% of households have members with chronic illnesses, with hypertension\/high blood pressure and HIV\/AIDS being the major conditions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Support Systems: 43% of households received support from the government, while 6% received aid from the United Nations and donor agencies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The report highlights the struggles faced by widows in Zimbabwe, who often face property grabbing and eviction by their in-laws \u00b2. Many widows are unaware of their property rights, and those in unregistered customary unions are particularly vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Challenges Faced by Widows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Property Rights: Widows are often denied their property rights, with in-laws taking over homes and land.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lack of Awareness: Many widows are unaware of their rights, making them vulnerable to exploitation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Limited Economic Options: Widows, especially in rural areas, have limited economic options and rely heavily on their husbands&#8217; families.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The Zimbabwean government has been urged to take steps to protect widows&#8217; rights, including registering all marriages, reforming marriage laws, and raising awareness about property rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zim GBC News\u00a92024<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Innocent Sibonginkosi Ncube Matabeleland North and South provinces in Zimbabwe have the highest number of widows, according to a 2024 government survey by the Zimbabwe Livelihoods Assessment Committee (ZimLAC). The&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[111],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4742"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4744,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4742\/revisions\/4744"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zimgbcnews.co.zw\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}