Vulnerability of widows and justifiability of their social protection from macroeconomic standpoint
- 2012
- p.75-91.
- Jul-Dec
Widowhood in India is often theorized by scholars as her social death. Thus, her social exclusion or social 'unfreedom 'fosters her economic unfreedom, barring her from participating in woman-friendly employment withinin social and religious spheres. Such unfreedom of widows make them heavily depend on the male and make them the subject of various types of deprivation. Widows need basic support and as they do not usually receive basic support from their family, the state needs to provide them with support in the form of social security. Poor countries in general are reluctant to offer a sizeable basket of social security to its large numbers of socially excluded, poor people. In most cases, high budget constraints stand in the way of building up a required fund. For most of the developing countries, tax revenue as a ratio to GDP is about half the level of industrial countries. The income and wealth of the rich, which are under-taxed due to loopholes and/or poor enforcement of tax laws, can be targeted for broadening the tax base. - Reproduced.