2020-06-28T00:00:00The paper articulates some of the problems faced by women in patriarchal societies with specific reference to the plight of widows as depicted in Ifeoma Okoye’s The Trial and Other Stories. The stories provoke us to reconsider and think afresh about the various ways in which widows are marginalized. It also spurs us to ask how we can do something about their situation. The study seeks to find out how engendering awareness serves the empowerment process. It questions how the female characters respond to the cultural and social realities illustrated in the texts. The paper adopts the purposive sampling technique. Excerpts are purposively sampled form the selected text using the Negofeminst theory. Okoye presents female characters that are daring to face life on their own terms and this helps them to conquer the overwhelming problems they face as they emerge triumphant at the end. The study affirms that the advocacy carried out by women and writers is beginning to produce the much desired result. This is a hopeful move that will subsequently improve the inheritance rights of wives and daughters as well as the treatment of widows in most cultures. The response of these widows to their varied dilemma stimulates a change in some of the assumptions about them. This consequently pulls down the dominant structures that exploit women and takes advantage of them in the society. Our study reveals that maintaining equity and harmony in our families results in peaceful societies and nations. To address this, there is a need for conceptualization which digs deep into the ingrained and culturally normative prejudice. This will pave a path for peaceful co-existence, synchronization and integration of all members of the society.