A Research Proposal on

The Life of Rural Poor Widows in Bangladesh

Prepared by
Group I
BSS Hon’s 8th Semester

Supervised by
Prof. Dr. Fozle Khoda

Institute of Social Welfare and Research

University of Dhaka
 Name & Roll Table of Contents
Masuma Akter
Roll: 7379 Abstract
Md. Enamul Islam
Roll: 7314 Statement of the Problem

Md. Abdul Kader

Roll: 7306 Literature Review
Md. Khokon Mahmud
Roll: 7324 Conceptual & Theoretical Framework
Jakaria Al Shahriar
Roll: 7420
Masuma Akter
Roll: 7379 Methodology and methods
Masuma Akter
Roll: 7379 Tentative Thesis Structure
Md. Minhazur Rahman Sihab
Roll: 7354 Justification
Md. Minhazur Rahman Sihab
Roll: 7354 Scope and Limitations of Research

Shahariar Mohammad Shadhin

Roll: 7308 Financial Budget
Shahariar Mohammad Shadhin
Roll: 7308 Conclusion

References

Abstract

The main aim of this paper will explore the life of rural poor widows in Bangladesh. There’s a
scarcity of a comprehensive formal arranged for the life of rural poor widows in Bangladesh.
Generally, rural poor widows undergo an unparallel amount of suffering and vulnerability due to
poor social economic and financial status increase their vulnerability. The study will follow
qualitative trend where data will be collected through face-to-face semi-structured interviews.
The study will use purposive sampling with a sample size of 14. The study findings will bring
out the actual condition of rural poor widows and their life patterns and challenges they face.
The study findings will be an important guideline for the policymakers and development
practitioners, social scientists.

Statement of the Problem

Bangladesh is one of the poorest countries in the world having most portion of its population
living below the poverty line. Among all of them rural poor widows generally undergo an
unparallel amount of sufferings and vulnerability. It is commonly known that widowhood is
highly linked with a wide range of deprivations across low-income areas in Bangladesh. In many
societies, a widow has very limited social status and is excluded from social participation
( Akhter, 2001; Swain and Pillai, 2005). In Bangladesh, widows are not generally seemed to fare
better. In both rural and urban areas, a daughter-in-law enjoys a secondary position. Widows face
legal, religious, and social restrictions which impede their ownership of property and their option
to re-marry (World Bank, 2016). The poor people, particularly the rural poor widows in
Bangladesh have the least opportunities to live comfortably with financial security and social
dignity. To address the poverty of the widows, the government of Bangladesh undertook the
scheme called "Allowance Scheme for Widowed and Husband Deserted Distressed Women"
which is mostly known as the "Widow Allowance Programme" in 1998. The objectives of the
Programme are to support them through financial assistance. In Bangladesh, many government
and non-government agencies have already taken some initiatives to improve the quality of life
of the poor widows as a whole instead of focusing especially on the rural poor widows. As the
rural poor widows are mostly sufferers in this case so we need to formulate a strategic plan only
for the improvement of the rural poor widows in Bangladesh. So this research focuses on
demographic and economic information, means of livelihood of rural poor widows, and the
challenges they face in social life.

Literature Review
We know the husband is the dignity of women in the family of Bangladesh. When a woman
becomes a widow, she lost her dignity in her family as well as society. ( Monija 2020). Though
widow is a term of having no husband because of the death of her husband. But when her
husband passes away the widow bear a lot of suffering from society and even from her family. A
widow is a person who is subjected to innumerable miseries, not due to her fault but due to
ignorance, superstition, and the social custom followed by the patriarchal society, her agony and
sufferings have not been reduced even over time ( Monija 2020). Early marriage with an older
man was a common phenomenon in pre-Colonial Indian society, and so was widowhood at a
minor age. The non-existence of the custom of widow remarriage and the absence of the right of
inheritance to a father's or husband's property added to the plight of the widows who had to
spend the rest of their lives as unwelcome dependants of their in-laws or parental families.
(akhter2001).so we can imagine the situation of the rural poor widows how they managed to
survive in this unfavorable situation. They face a lot of problems as a social, financial,
emotional, cultural, and religious problem. so why this situation has emerged for the widows as
Niswade stated Widows have limited freedom to remarry, insecure property rights, living
arrangements of the elderly, social stigma, restricted employment opportunities, and lack of
social support. (Niswade, (2015) there are a lot of social and cultural barriers to the problem
faced by widows. Women have weak protection socially and legally in the event of the break-up
of marriages. They face a high level of vulnerability such as losing honor, a high degree of
divorce and

abandonment, etc. Thus, due to a lack of power in society to influence their situation women
cannot empower themselves. The widowed and husband deserted distressed women are the most
severe victims of this complicated condition. (nilufar.2012). Cultural norms associated with
widowhood often confer numerous, interacting disadvantages including denial of inheritance,
limited mobility outside the home and economic participation, prohibitions on remarriage, and
restricted social participation.( Sherlock, Corso, and Minicuci2015). Moring said Widows in the
past have often been viewed either as poor and lonely or living under the control of their family
members. (Moring 2012).so we can say that there is no freedom for a person who is a widow in
society. So their lifestyle is constructed by her family and social desire. A woman's life security
is at stake in the absence of economic or social support coming from family or non-family
networks. In the rural context of Bangladesh where women are in general dependent, aged
widows are in a vulnerable situation. (Monija 2020). The financial hardship on the families
significantly increases when the widow has children who are either too young to earn and are
financially dependent on their mother; has children who are older but do not earn enough or are
not willing to provide support to the mother. Many widows resort to very low-paid menial jobs,
begging, or charity especially as their access to dignified jobs is limited by their poor literacy,
lack of marketable skills (world bank2016). Though the widows face a lot of problems the
solution to their problem is very rare as Monija showed, The largest part of aged widows doesn't
have regular financial support. Insufficient economic aid comes from the govt. within the shape
of the widow and aged allowance. ( Monija 2020). Government just gives some allowance to the
poor aged widows but most of the problems are neglected by them. Helena Lopata has suggested
that the various kinds of support widows might need can be grouped into four systems (Lopata
1987, I, Introduction): (a) economic support-paid work, barter, gifts, inheritance, benefits from
individual or organized charity, from public programs such as insurance systems/pension
systems; (b) support-assistance needed with housekeeping, child care, care during illness,
shopping, transportation, legal assistance, etc.; (c) social support-taking part in social events such
as birthdays or other family celebrations, visits, travels, holidays; (d) emotional support-
assistance to fight loneliness, to define self-perception, self-respect, to give the feeling of
comfort and security. (Lopata 1987, I, Introduction). So we should work for all problems faced
by the widows who are hampered with the lifestyle of the widows in our society. "No woman
should lose her status, livelihood or property when her husband dies, yet millions of widows in
our world face persistent abuse, discrimination, disinheritance, and destitution" (United Nations
Statement for International Widows Day, 2014).

Conceptual & Theoretical Framework

We are interested to know the life of rural poor-aged widows in Bangladesh. Our goal is to be
able to know what specific thing affects the lifestyle of rural poor widows in our country.

The research question we can formulate is "what are the problems they are facing and what's the
status of rural poor aged widows in Bangladesh?

We read up on different articles, writings, publications related to the status of widows in

Bangladesh, specifically the problems and challenges of widows in Bangladesh. From here, we
can already have an idea of the variables we can pinpoint from those articles, writings,
publications that have been proven to affect the status of rural poor aged widows in Bangladesh.

With all the books, scholarly articles, and researches we have gone through, it can be determined
that there are 3 main variables, namely: benefits/allowances, income sources, number of the
family members. Widows are very much concerned with the favor/support they get. The amount
of allowances makes them also affect how satisfied or dissatisfied they are. Lastly, the number of
family members also affects their lifestyle.

We would be able to determine the 3 variables: benefits/allowances, income Sources, number of

family members & the study of learned helplessness by Seligman (1967) are determining factors
of the status of rural poor aged widows in Bangladesh.

Learned helplessness occurs when an individual continuously faces a negative, uncontrollable

situation and stops trying to change their circumstances, even when they can do so.

Methodology and methods

This study will attempt to explore the life of rural poor widows in Bangladesh. This study will
help to develop a detailed understanding and an in-depth exploration of livelihood and
challenges face by rural poor widows. For answering the research objectives qualitative trends
will be adopted by using an interview schedule as a method of gathering data. Though qualitative
trends having some limitations regarding generalizing the findings as we have a limited sample
size to develop a detailed understanding of the central phenomenon. We think the qualitative
trend will be suitable for this study.

Population and sampling

The main subject of the study will be the rural poor widows from some selective areas in
Bangladesh and the objects will be their livelihood, socio-demographic and economic
information, and the challenges they face on which the sampling will be done. The rural poor
widows individually will be the unit of analysis of the study.

The study will use purposive sampling with a sample size of 14. Due to the limited sample size
and to reach a targeted sample quickly and to develop an in-depth exploration purposive
sampling will be used. We think through purposive sampling selecting people and sites will be
helpful for us to understand our phenomenon.

Data collection and analysis

Data will be collected through a face-to-face interview method. A semi-structured interview

schedule will be developed to conduct this interview with verbal instructions in front of the
respondents. The semi-structured interview schedule will be initially designed in English and
later translated into Bangla for getting answers. The primary data will be collected from semi-
natural settings, for this reason, a semi-structured interview schedule will be more suitable. It
will help answer the research objectives or develop a theory. We need to access the sample's
perceptions of both past and present events about how they feel now and then, thus in-depth
interviews will be particularly useful when the phenomena under investigation can't be observed
directly. The interview will happen at a cross-section in time.

To explore rural poor widow's livelihood patterns, their socio-demographic and economic
information, and the challenges they face, we need to collect their present and past data. While
collecting data via interview technique, we will use a digital tape recorder to record all the
interviews and later transcribe those text and organize the key themes under different categories
with labels.

Analysis

As we will follow the qualitative trend and develop a depth exploration of the central phenomena
using a limited sample size, we will take our analysis strategy as a unique case orientation
considering the uniqueness of the respondents for data analysis. We will use the thematic
analysis technique because of its flexibility in nature and also interpreting data sets more easily
by sorting them into broad themes. The coded themes will be analyzed with the help of a pen
pencil system and at the same time, we will use qualitative data analysis software quirks. Finally,
to relate those themes with our objectives we will use our theoretical framework.
Ethical consideration

We will develop an informed consent form for the participants to sign before they participate in
the study. We will assure the respondents about confidentiality will be maintained. We will
record their interview with prior permission also we will assure the results will bring no harm to
them.

Tentative Thesis Structure of the Study

The study will include the following chapters:

1. The introductory Chapter includes the abstract, the statement of the problem,
Justification of the study, and purpose of the study will be included here.
2. Literature review and Framework (Theoretical, Conceptual) includes literature review
defining important terms and concept, Development and the main features of the
theory will discuss here.
3. The methodological Chapter will discuss a selection of participants, data collection
and analysis also justification to choose the methods in the study.
4. Findings Chapter
5. Summary and Conclusion

Justification 

This study is beneficial so far, it will contribute some convenience to the widows live in rural
areas of Bangladesh. By reviewing available literature, we can identify the knowledge gap. This
hiatus will be fill-up by the research. This research will be significant for the poor widows lived
in rural areas in Bangladesh. The study will inform the government or policymakers to develop
the facilities and allowances for widows. It will also change the Outlook of families about
widows. The expected result or theory that build-up by the research will be useful for the poor
widows and the rural society.
Scope and Limitations of Research 
The study will cover the widowed persons in rural areas. It will mention their socio-economic
condition, mental as well as physical condition. The research will also include accomplishments
against their challenges. This study has limitations. It is difficult to deal with the widows from
the whole country so, we will exclude the well-of widows and widows from urban areas. We
won't particularly show the issues of young or aged widows.

Financial Budget

A total of Tk.50000 is requested to undertake the research described above. The majority of
funds will go towards field activity expenses for the essential but time-consuming activities of
conducting and analyzing 21 interviews. The estimated cost for the proposed project is given
below:

a Personal cost TK.10000

Data Analyst, Data Entry Operator, Co-Investigator, Principal
Investigator, etc.
b Field Activity cost TK.35000
Allowance for data collector, Local data collection cost, etc.
c Travel and Transport cost TK.10000
Interdistrict travel cost by principal investigator and co-investigator, and
other travel costs not related to data collection.
d Professional service TK.5000
For mentor and fees for Ethical Clearance
e General cost TK.10000
Any other cost related to the research work including dissemination
seminar
Total funding required (a +b +c +d +e) TK.70000

Time Frame
1st Phase:

May- July 2021: preparation of the questionnaires, pretesting, and finalization by the end of
June; Data processing will be completed by July 2021.

2nd Phase

August-September, 2021

Draft report writing may be completed during August 2021. Presentation of findings in a seminar
at end of August 2021. Editing, Improving the final report by September 2021. Submission of the
final report by the last week of September 2021.

Conclusion

The Social Safety Net Programmes are very important programs for a poor country like
Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, a significant percentage of the population lives below the poverty
line. They are utterly vulnerable and need the support of the government for their survival. For
many poor people, these allowances are the only sources of their livelihood. However, from the
findings of our study, it appears that the expectations of many poor remain unfulfilled due to
some irregularities found in the system sometimes caused by the implementing authorities.
Therefore, the suggestions may be taken into consideration to remove the procedural
irregularities in the system. This will help the government to achieve the target of the allowance
program and also support those vulnerable people of the country who live in abject poverty and
endless misery.
References
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