Skip to content
ontologydriven
Sign out

Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

widow cleansing en · NOUN

Meanings

  1. (Africa, uncountable) A tradition that requires widowed women to have sexual intercourse as a form of ritual purification.
    • The practices of widow cleansing, as well as widow inheritance, pose a serious risk of spreading HIV/AIDS to individuals and among the wider community. 2019 May 23, Roseline Orwa, “Kenya: education, stigma and widow cleansing”, in LSE blog:
    • A group of women in western Kenya is fighting "widow-cleansing", a traditional ritual practiced by Luo ethnic communities in some of the poorer, more rural areas of the country. 2017 December 6, “Kenya widows fight sexual 'cleansing' practise”, in BBC News: