Having a registered marriage helped some women to hold on to their property and, to some degree, prevented threats of property grabbing or the need to resort to the courts. Glenda, 72, married in 1963, and she and her husband registered their traditional marriage. After her husband passed away, she told Human Rights Watch: “They [my inlaws] respected me. No one went against my wishes. I had cattle in my own name, and I used them to send my children to school.”58 She said the marriage certificate helped to discourage in-laws from grabbing (or attempting to grab) her property. But even a marriage certificate was not always sufficient protection from property grabbing from widows. In some cases, in-laws even attempted to take over widows’ properties when the marriage was officially registered or a husband had a will that explicitly left property to his widow. Virginia, 64, lives around Harare and also had a marriage certificate. She said her husband’s younger brother was incensed when he found out they had registered their marriage: He took many things, including his [my husband’s] suits. He wanted more, and tried to keep the death certificate from me. I went to him four times to ask for it. After the fifth time, I involved the police…. He insulted me when I went to see him for the certificate. “You need a death certificate because you want to sell the property,” he said. He said that it was in line with customs that I take steps to inform [my husband’s] relatives and obtain their consent for selling anything.59 Widowhood and Child Marriage Child marriages are unlikely to be registered, putting widows who married as children at risk of property grabbing and difficulties claiming inheritance. For some, the deprivations of widowhood come on top of those of being married as a child. With high rates of child marriage in Zimbabwe, many widows are also former child brides. Michelle said she ended up marrying a man whose children were already her age: “[H]e gave gifts to the elders, said 58 Human Rights Watch interview with Glenda, June 1, 2016. 59 Human Rights Watch interview with Virginia, May 26, 2016. “YOU WILL GET NOTHING” 26