About the Book
In Japanese, the literal translation of a widow – a woman who has outlived her husband – is ‘she who has not died yet.’ For millennia, widows have occupied the margins of society: banished to the wilderness, silenced and shrouded in black or white. Across cultures, laws and customs have maligned them as witches, dependants or objects of pity.
In some traditions, widows are expected to remarry within the husband’s family, or, in extreme cases, commit self-immolation – expectations never placed on men. Yet widowhood has also produced unexpected freedoms: financial and sexual autonomy, rights denied to married women.
Internationally renowned cultural historian Mineke Schipper draws on sources from ancient Egypt and Greece to Africa, the Americas and beyond to reveal a global legacy of shame, resilience and defiance. Rich in striking detail, Widows uncovers the last feminist taboo – one that the world would prefer not to talk about.
Reviews
‘Schipper has placed the accounts of old rituals into a new context ... Why should “she who has not yet died” have to sit out the rest of her days without prospects?’ NRC
‘Mineke shows the shocking sexism that underlies the way widows are treated … these vulnerable women deserve more attention within contemporary feminism. Schipper’s contribution is a good start.’ Het Parool
‘A magisterial new book, with the special insights we are used to from this versatile author.’ Soroptimist
‘They were despised, ridiculed and sometimes even killed. In many societies, widows no longer belonged to anything after the loss of their husbands. Mineke Schipper here charts their sad fate.’ Historisch Nieuwsblad
‘Schipper lays out how it was for widows then and now all over the world, in a clear and understandable way.’ Boekenbijlage
