An analysis of the legal framework on gender discrimination and women’s rights to property in Nigeria: a case study of the Igala people
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Date
2023
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of the Western Cape
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.
Description
Doctor Legum - LLD
Keywords
Customary Law, Discrimination, Igala people, Inheritance, Legal-Framework