Widowhood. It can hit at any time to anyone.  Death of a husband can happen suddenly by heart attack or car accident, or it can creep up slowly over the weeks, months and even years.  Suddenly you are a widow.  Your biggest source of income has disappeared.  And if it was a slow, lingering death, a lot of your money went away as well.  A number of women are pregnant with what is now to be their youngest child.  And there are all those other mouths to feed as well.  And educate.  Often education is impacted or even stopped.  The younger children have lost all possibility of going abroad for the education their older siblings have enjoyed.  And of course there are the social implications.  So often the deceased husband's family moves in to claim all his assets.  The new widow has little to stand on.  The chance of remarriage is slim to non-existent.  In fact in 27 years we know of no widow who has remarried.  For widowers it is different.  They can and will easily remarry.  In fact the vultures start circling around after waiting a decent interval.  Especially if he owns his own home, has grown children, has a car, and maybe is newly retired.  But women will be alone until the day they die.  That's just the way it is in this culture.  And it will be a struggle to the end.  There are a few exceptions.  Women who hold on to the house and have a good job, maybe with the government.  But they too struggle without a spouse to help with all the big decisions and share the load of raising the children.