InternationalWidows’ Day Sheds Light on the Marginalized Struggles of Widows Worldwide

NEW YORK, New York (June 19, 2023) – To commemorate International Widows’Day and raise awareness of the physical, social, and economic violence that widows encounter globally, the Global Fund for Widows and the Modern WidowsClub are organizing the 2023 International Widows Day Forum on June 23,2023 at 11:00AM inRayburn House Office Building Room 2044 (B339), 45 Independence Ave SW,Washington, DC 20515.

Event Details:

11:00AM-12:15PM -Domestic Issues (Modern Widows Club Panelist)

12:30PM-1:45PM - TheWidows Ask: Working Session on Global Widowhood and Lunch

2:00PM- 2:30 PM -Fireside Inspectional Conversation Between Domestic and InternationalWidowhood: Call to Action

 Domestic Issue Panelists: 

°       Carolyn Moor - Founder, Modern Widows Club/Widow Advocate

°       Stacy Francis - Founder, Savvy Ladies /Financial Literacy 

°       Melanese Marr-Thomas - COVID19 Loss &Survivor Advocate

°       Juliette Brisman - 9/11 Widow/ Mental HealthResponse/ Long Term Impact 

°       Daniel Kopp - Wise Stewardship FinancialPlanning - Military/ Widower/ Widow

°       Cindy Toledo - Widow Leadership and AdvocacyUrgency

The Widows' Ask - Working Session onGlobal Widowhood Panelists:

°      Angèle Griffin - Legislative Assistant for Foreign Affairs, Office of Rep. ColinAllred

°      Shannon Isaacs - Executive Director, Global Fund for Widows

°      DorothyDavis - President, Dorothy M. Davis Consulting

°      Moderator:Elena Saenz Feehan - Program Manager, Global Fund for Widows

Widowhood is an essential yet often overlooked gender issue that affects over 300 million women and 500 million children globally. Widows face discrimination, harmful practices, disinheritance, and loss of income, status, and basic needs. This leads to a cycle of poverty for widows and their children. Widows, despite being highly marginalized, are often overlooked in aid and development programs.

 Widows globally urge the US and international community for human rights laws recognizing their struggle. It's time to condemn violence and discrimination, abolish unfair inheritance laws, protect widows in conflicts, and prevent rights violations. The question remains: Will their urgent pleas finally be heard?

 This event will provide a platform for widows, widowers, and widow supporters to come together and shed light on the pressing issues affecting millions of widows worldwide.

 For more information and to RSVP, please visit International Widows’Day Forum.

 Join us at the 2023 International Widows Day Forum and contribute to the collective effort of bringing widows’ issues to the forefront of the global agenda.Together, we can create a more equitable and inclusive world for widows and their children.

 For more information on the Modern Widows Club, please visit https://modernwidowsclub.org/

 About the Global Fund for Widows

Global Fund for Widows (GFW) is the world’s largest international organization dedicated to economically empowering widows.Headquartered in New York, GFW has operations in 8 countries including Malawi,Kenya, India, Egypt, and others. Founded in 2008 by Heather Ibrahim-Leathers upon the passing of her grandmother, who was a young widow in rural Egypt, GFW is a 501(c)3non-profit organization. Utilizing evidence-based programmatic, GFW pioneered the award-winning WISALA bank model. GFW has impacted nearly 100,000 widows and their children around the world through their financial inclusion programs. In2022 GFW successfully advocated for the passing of a United Nations GeneralAssembly resolution regarding widowhood and human rights. Global Fund forWidows and its founder Heather Ibrahim-Leathers have received numerous awards for their work including a 2021 nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

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