A widow is a woman whose spouse has died. A man whose spouse has died is a widower. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or (occasionally) viduity..]]The social status of widows has been an important social issue, particularly in the past. In families in which the husband was the sole provider, widowhood could plunge the family into poverty, and many charities had as a goal the aid of widows and orphans (often, not children without parents, but children without a contributing father). This was aggravated by women's longer life spans, and that men generally marry women younger than themselves, and by the greater ease with which men remarried. However, in some patriarchal societies, widows were among the most independent women. A widow sometimes carried on her late husband's business and consequently accorded certain rights, such as the right to enter guilds. More recently, widow

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