Lasting Welfare Effects of Widowhood in a Poor Country

Little is known about the situation
facing widows and their dependent children in West Africa
especially after the widow remarries. Women in Malian
society are vulnerable to the loss of husbands especially in
rural areas. Households headed by widows have significantly
lower living standards on average than male or other female
headed households in both rural and urban areas; this holds
both unconditionally and conditional on observable household
and individual characteristics including age. Furthermore,
the adverse welfare effects of widowhood appear to persist
even after widows are absorbed into male headed households.
An examination of individual measures of well-being further
reveals that, relative to other women, worse outcomes for
ever-widowed women persist through remarriage. These
detrimental effects are passed on to children, indicating an
intergenerational transmission of poverty stemming from widowhood.