BAJURA: Ever since her HIV-infected husband died three years ago, Laxmi BK (30) of Jugeda, Dhangadhi-12 has borne full responsibility of the house including bringing up her children. Every day, she worries about how to provide basic necessities to her five children. She works in a nearby brick kiln for a hand-to-mouth existence. In the name of property, she owns a small hut and an undocumented one-kaththa field. 'When he was alive, we used to live off the money he would send from India. It has been very difficult to meet the needs after his demise,' Laxmi expressed. Laxmi lives with her family in a small land her in-laws provided to her and she struggles everyday to feed and educate her children with the same. Meanwhile, another single woman, Pashupati BK of the same village also shares the same story. 'Daily hand-to-mouth living is difficult for us, healthy food is out of the question,' another single woman Mina BK said. Situation of single women of Far-Western Region is pitiful, a leader of single women, Bed Awasthi, stated. Women who were largely dependent on their husbands are now suffering even more, she added. Single women are deprived of socio-economic privileges whereas their children are deprived of educational facilities, Eliza Tuladhar of FoodFirst Information and Action Network (FIAN) Nepal said. Suna Sarki of Jugadi, currently working in Martadi, says Rs 500 from the government is not enough to take care of her three children. Single women are not allowed to claim the property as their in-laws think that either they will marry some other men or act against the family’s wills, Parbati Budha, Chief of Single Women Rights Network, Bajura explained. Nawaraj Pandey, Kailali District Court's Nayab Subba, a non-gazetted officer, informed that the Court regularly get cases regarding for property claims from single women.