While this report focuses primarily on the abuses older widows face, Human Rights Watch interviewed widows of a range of ages. 29 of the 59 widows Human Rights Watch interviewed for this report were 50 years of age or older. While old age is frequently defined by chronological age—for example the official retirement age—it is generally not biological age that determines whether or not a person is perceived and treated as an older person or is exposed to the risks or vulnerabilities commonly associated with old age. Thus, analyses incorporate whether a person was subjected to old age discrimination regardless of calendar age and whether a person suffered human rights violations related to the aging process, such as frailty, chronic disease, or disability. Most interviews were conducted in private, in the offices of partner NGOs. Many widows traveled to urban locations of partner NGOs from their homes in rural areas. For most interviews, a Human Rights Watch researcher (a native speaker of Shona) translated from Shona into English. For some interviews, a staff member from a partner NGO translated from Shona or Ndebele into English. Interviews were conducted by asking similar open-ended questions to each person and covered a range of topics related to property and inheritance rights of widows. Before each interview, we informed interviewees of its purpose, informed them of the kinds of issues that would be covered, and asked whether they wanted to participate. We informed them that they could discontinue the interview at any time or decline to answer any specific questions without consequence and that their names would remain confidential. Human Rights Watch did not offer any financial or other reward to the people who agreed to be interviewed for this report. We identified widows through legal aid providers and grassroots widows’ NGOs in rural areas. As such, we could not reach many widows who are socially and geographically isolated. Such widows may not have access to services provided by legal aid organizations and may be worse off than many of the women we interviewed. All documents cited in this report are publicly available or on file with Human Rights Watch. 9 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH | JANUARY 2017