It is official. 2011 marks the first year the United Nations recognizes International Widows Day. It is a call to action to focus the world on the unique plight of the world’s 245 million widows who have lost their husbands.  Religion, law and tradition in many countries leaves a woman ostracized when her husband dies. In many cases, she is stripped of everything because she, like his home or other possessions, belonged to him. Imagine?

The United Nations Women planned a one-day symposium to mark the first June 23rd. the night before, the UK’s former “First Lady” and a human rights attorney and activist Cherie  Booth Blair told a New York crowd, she hopes International Widows Day will be marked like International Women’s Day in March, with worldwide attention. 

A report release by the Loomba Trust, the foundation which began in India and has spread its work to other parts of the middle East and Africa, calculated there are more than 100 million widows in poverty. If you add by extension the children of the 245 milllion, their widowhood affects one-sixth of the world population. According to Loomba’s statistics, widowed women experience targeted murder, rape, prostitution, forced marriage, property theft, eviction, social isolation, and physical and psychological abuse. 

As part of the symposium, the United Nations is hosting an art show with work by Yoko Ono and others focusing on widows and their unique needs. 

For more on the report and the reasons for Widows Day click here.