Widowhood Rites and Rituals in Some Communities of the North West Region of Cameroon: Psychological, Financial, and Physical Health Impacts on Widows and Consequences for Children’s Education
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/Keywords:
Widowhood, widowhood rites, widowhood rituals, psychological impact, financial impact, physical impact, educationAbstract
The main purpose of this study was to examine the psychological, financial, and physical health impacts of widowhood rites and rituals on widows in some selected communities of the North West Region of Cameroon and consequences for their children’s education. The mixed research method was adopted for this study and data was collected with the use of three instruments; questionnaire, interview guide and observation guide. The sample comprised of 160 widows who have undergone widowhood rites and rituals, and 10 elderly women responsible for carrying out and supervising widowhood rites and rituals, who were interviewed. The researcher personally observed some widowhood rites and rituals as they were being performed. The purposive and the snowball sampling techniques were used. Quantitative data was analyzed with the use of Means and Standard Deviations, while qualitative data was analyzed using the Thematic Approach. The findings revealed that many of the widowhood rites and rituals practiced in the area under study impose significant psychological distress, financial hardship, and physical health challenges on widows, which limit their ability to adequately support the education of their children, thereby increasing vulnerability to poor educational outcome. The study then concludes with recommendations that will go a long way to reform practices that undermine dignity, health, economic well-being, and educational welfare of widows’ children.
References
[1] The Loomba Foundation, The Global Widows Report 2015: A Global Overview of the Deprivation Faced by Widows and Their Children. London, U.K.: The Loomba Foundation, 2025.
[2] R. Lange and C. Dykeman, “Post-traumatic stress disorder in young Banso widows in Cameroon,” preprint, Oregon State University, 2018.
[3] UN Women, “What you should know about widowhood,” 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2021/6/explainer-you-should-know-about-widowhood
[4] A. Nwosu, “Widowhood practices and religions in Nigeria,” Term Paper, Department of Sociology, University of Nsukka, Nsukka, Nigeria, 2007.
[5] J. S. Mbiti, African Religions and Practices, 2nd ed. Oxford, U.K.: Heinemann, 1969.
[6] V. P. Ngambouk and A. Fubah, “The social context of widowhood rites and women’s human rights in Cameroon,” 2016, doi: 10.1080/233311886.2016.1234671.
[7] C. A. Mackinnon, “Marxism, method and the state: An agenda for theory,” Signs, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 535–537, 1982.
[8] K. Yamata and A. Socpa, “Rethinking widowhood in Western Cameroon: Saving or enslaving the widow?” International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Sciences, vol. 9, no. 6, 2015, doi: 10.47772/IJRISS2025:903SEDU0669.
[9] R. Shoko and S. Danke, “The violent aspect of widowhood rites in the South African context,” Social Sciences, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 115, 2024.
[10] R. Willis, “A comparative analysis of widow dispossession in Francophone and Anglophone Cameroon,” Journal of African Law, vol. 62, no. 1, pp. 147–174, 2018.
[11] P. Anuforo, R. Zoucha, K. Salman, and M. R. McFarland, “Influences of widowhood cultural practices, values and beliefs on the health and well-being of Nigerian women,” Journal of Transcultural Nursing, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 184–194, 2025.
[12] S. Matlabe-Danke, “Cultural practices and constitutional rights in widowhood: Lived experiences of Black widowed women in Makapanstad Village in South Africa,” Social Sciences Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, 2024.
[13] U. Bronfenbrenner, The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Cambridge, MA, USA: Harvard University Press, 1979.
[14] N. V. Pemunta and M. F. Alubafi, “The social context of widowhood rites and women’s human rights in Cameroon,” Cogent Social Sciences, vol. 2, no. 1, 2016.
[15] L. Ankiambom, “The origin, evolution and changing perspectives of widowhood in the Bamenda Grassfields of Cameroon since the pre-colonial period,” International Journal of Social Sciences, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 836–852, 2017.
