Even where laws do officially grant widows inheritance and other rights, few widows are aware of these. Widows are victims of the conflicts and confusion concerning the relationship between patriarchal customary, religious and modern law, and the local court's monopoly over all disputes concerning family and land issues.
Widows are particularly vulnerable to violence, sexual abuse and rape.
Domestic violence is common especially at the hands of their husband's male relatives, and in connection with property grabbing. Coercive traditional burial and mourning rites are often degrading and harmful to widows, and frequently involve non-consensual sexual activity and extreme limitations on personal freedom. Eviction, homelessness, illiteracy, poverty and destitution force widows and their children into the most exploitative areas of informal sector work such as domestic service and prostitution. The precariousness of widows' lives often results in their children being deprived of education. Daughters are especially vulnerable, and their lack of education and training often propels them into too early marriage and consequent early widowhood.