As International Widows Day, June 23, approaches, Emma Mong’ute, a leader with the Nguvu Collective and founder of the Amandla MEK Foundation, is spearheading a call for a shift in how Kenya supports its widows.
“Widowhood should not close doors for women,” Mong’ute emphasizes, advocating for policy changes that reframe financial support for widows not as charity, but as a basic right.”
Across Kenya, countless women face profound injustice and a stripping of dignity the moment they lose their spouses. This vulnerability is deeply embedded in cultural practices, legal loopholes, and societal silence. Widows are often subjected to forced evictions, property seizures, and harmful widowhood rites. Beyond their grief, these women are left to fight for survival in a society that too often abandons them when they are most vulnerable.
International Widows Day, a UN-ratified day of action, highlights the poverty and injustice faced by millions of widows and their dependents in many countries. In Kenya, while grassroots organizations like the Rona Foundation are working tirelessly to advance widow rights and improve access to justice, education, healthcare, and essential services, the scale of the challenge remains immense. Widows continue to grapple with economic precarity, social exclusion, and violence, all underpinned by weak legal protections and deeply entrenched gender norms.
Emma Mong’ute’s organization, the Amandla MEK Foundation, is committed to empowering women through leadership development, social welfare, and entrepreneurship programs.
“We aim to provide mentorship and psycho-social support to widows, girls, and vulnerable women,” Mong’ute explains. “We are helping them to develop skills and confidence to be able to thrive in a patriarchal society. Widows in particular need access to seed grants and low-interest loans to start small businesses and become self-reliant.”
To drive systemic change, Mong’ute has launched an online campaign pushing for crucial policy shifts. Her core message is that financial support for widows should be recognized as a basic right, not a charitable act.
“The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a global intergovernmental body focused on gender equality, has already addressed the needs of widows through the lens of gender equality and empowerment,” she notes. “In Kenya too, we need government policies that recognize widows’ rights and guarantee their financial and social inclusion.”