An analysis of the legal framework on gender discrimination and women’s rights to property in Nigeria: a case study of the Igala people
Year: 2023
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Although Nigeria is a signatory to several international, regional, and homegrown legal instruments seeking to promote the rights of women, like; the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa, and supported fundamentally by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, which disallows female gender discrimination and also allows women the right to own immovable property.Evidence, however, abounds in most Nigerian communities and ethnic groupings of the flagrant disregard and abuse of the rights of women, especially in reference to property ownership and inheritance during and after marriage.Since the practices that deepen these manifestations of discrimination are supported by age-long traditional beliefs and customs, it seems to thrive without regard to the position of conventions and laws as those aforementioned.It is believed that the patriarchal nature of the Igala (a minority ethnic group, living in Kogi State, North -Central Nigeria and the focal point of this research) provides an enabling environment for women's exclusion regarding property ownership and inheritance, with culture being used as a tool to justify violations.This research, in specific terms, therefore, leverages the substantive equality approach and the claims of patriarchy, which is the core focus of radical feminism theory, to analyse the extent to which traditional beliefs and customs support the violation of the rights of women, as well as the manifestations of discrimination in the exercise of their rights to property ownership and inheritance during and after marriage under the Igala Native Laws and Customs while identifying factors that impede the enforcement of extant laws and conventions against the violation of the rights of women among ethnic groups in Nigeria.This research adopted the doctrinal approach and the Desk-based research method.The doctrinal approach critically assesses the existing legal and institutional framework for the advancement of women's rights in Nigeria as it relates to property ownership and inheritance.A desk-based research entails gathering and analysing data from existing sources.This research shows that the patriarchal nature of the Igala ethnic group sets the parameters for women's structurally unequal position in families by enabling male dominance in terms of property ownership and inheritance.This research suggests an urgent need to eliminate discriminatory practices that deprive married women, widows, and divorced women of their rights to property and inheritance.
Author: Achimugu-Opaluwa, Agah Deborah
Language: English
Topic: Family and Matrimonial Law
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Tertiary Education Trust Fund
OpenAlex ID: W7213740775