Expert Shares The Hidden Gender Gap In Bereavement

Women are disproportionately burdened with death admin in the UK.

Freelance Life Writer

The loss of a loved one is a heavy weight and one that all of us will experience throughout our lives. The emotional toll alone can make day to day life incredibly difficult to cope with.

This is before we even consider the practical and financial elements of loss which, according to the loss experts at Empathy, fall disproportionately on women in the UK.

HuffPost UK spoke exclusively with Clare Dodd, UK General Manager at Empathy who shared: “When we talk about bereavement, the first thing people think of is the emotional devastation – how awful it must be to not have that person in your life anymore.

“But what often gets overlooked, and can be equally painful to deal with, is the practical avalanche that follows a death. And in the UK, that burden disproportionately falls on women.”

This is partially because Census data reveals women are significantly more likely to be widowed than men, and around three quarters of bereavement benefit claimants are female according to DWP data.

However, the bereavement gender gap goes a little deeper

Dodd adds: “Beyond the statistics, we see a clear pattern amongst the people we work with: women are often the ones left navigating the administrative tasks of loss, while handling their own grief.

“And the to-do list can be lengthy – planning a funeral, contacting pension providers, closing bank accounts, organising the funeral, dealing with probate, all while holding the family together........

© HuffPost