Working Definition of a Widow

A widow is a person who has lost a partner through death. For the purposes of this project, the term is not limited to legal definitions of marriage or constrained by traditional gender roles. A widow may have lost a husband, wife, or long-term partner, and may or may not have been legally married.

What defines widowhood here is self-identification: if a woman grieves the death of a partner and identifies as a widow, she is included in this definition.