Why Igbo women are excluded from landed inheritance

The acquisition of land for men and women in Nigeria, for the most part, is through inheritance. And inheritance rights to a great extent are influenced by the prevailing customs and norms in different parts of the country. Most often, men have a greater chance of inheriting land over women, a patrilineal system of land inheritance that persists despite the provisions of the law. Hence, there is a huge gender gap in land ownership in Nigeria,  especially among the Igbo tribe who believe ancestral lands can not be given out to the women. {Ana Obi}. in the Northern part of the country is even worse to think of this. here women, for customary and religious reasons, frequently give up their inheritance rights due to social pressure coming from family members.

Recently, there has been this clamor by women, who feel they have been marginalized over the years, and this is the right time to fight for their rights and get justice. 

this agitation has been going on before now, Some Igbo women want their family to include them in sharing whatever landed inheritance their father left behind, according to them, children are blessing from the lord, and are equal in the presence of the most high God, if this is true then, it should be applicable to families, if a male child is given the privilege to inherit the land and other material possessions of their late father, then a woman should be given the same privilege. 

generally, the females take care of their parents more than the male counterpart,  they are always closer to their parents than the men, but it heartbreaking that these women are given out in marriage later on as the custom demands, and no inheritance is been allocated to them thereafter when their father dies.

It is pertinent to know that women contribute massively to their family as caregivers, they take care of their father’s family even from their husband’s home,  they support their siblings as well. Hence in Igbo they say ‘Nwanyi bu ife’ meaning women worth a lot.

To this end, they seek redress of the traditional practice and some flexibility in the law, that was made to serve mankind and not the other way round

 The Igbo tribe of Nigeria are people rigidly bounded in culture and tradition. they believe their Ancestors and Elders are wiser, hence the proverb, ‘what an elder saw while sitting, a child will never see it even he climb at the top of an Iroko tree. Iroko is a remarkable tree to the Igbos as a result of its amazing feature, tall with shades that can shelter a large number of people or animals hence it always forms parts of their reference.

Traditional Igbo culture place more value on the male child, because they believe he is the one to replace them and continue his lineage, {Ngwuru}, that is why you hear names like ‘Obiechina’ which means my linage will not end. Or name like ‘Afamefula’.with a son he is sure of continuity, even after he passed on.

For this reason, the man strives to make sure his wife bares him, sons,  else his brothers will take hold of his property, and his name will come to an end. he will not have anybody to succeed him and continue keeping the lineage name alive, this is the reason they always bear their surname, in order to remind them of their connection with their ancestors.

 the son of an Igbo man is the rightful owner of his properties, women do not inherit landed properties in Igbo culture, but an Igbo man takes care of his female child more than the male, he believes in female education. he can give another land to his daughters but not his ancestral land.

Statically, the number of educated women in Igbo land outnumbers that of the male, this data is gotten from Jamb board. the Igbo man supports his daughter in every possible way, the only thing lacking is the inheritance, though some rich men have a way of including their daughter in their will, if they choose to do so, but not  anything concerning his  ‘ OBI’  

In Igbo Culture the ‘Obi’ is separately owned by the Diokpara, [the first son of an Igbo man] while the last son inherits anything left by the mother, this is an implicit culture that Igbos understands, and it forms part of their reality. 

Apart, from the first son, other children dare not drag the Obi because they understand its implication. this is the reason a traditional Igbo man often gives his first son Name like ‘Obinnaya’ the person who inherits the obi from the father. 

The Igbo society believes a woman’s inheritance lies with her husband, as they often say ‘Ugwu Nwanyi Bu Di ya’[ the pride of a woman is her husband]. Thus, as a woman, you have nothing to share with your brothers in your father’s house.

on this issue, this is what Azuka Onwuka has to say on Opinion Nigeria

1. There is no law in Igboland that bars women from inheriting the property of their parents. Men give their daughters as much of their property as they wish. My father-in-law gave his daughter land in Nnewi and Lagos.
2. There is what is called ancestral land. The father gives it to his son. The son gives it to his own son. It is never paid for with money. Any son that does not inherit an ancestral land is seen as having been disowned

in summary, inheriting landed property was never the problem, the bone of contention here is the ancestral land,  in the Igbo culture, women have access to land but not ancestral land.

you may seek redress if you feel you are not with whatever you feel your father has bequeathed to you as a daughter. 

what do you think?

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