PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN TO CUSTOMARY INHERITANCE IN IGBO LAND OF NIGERIA

Abstract

In many African societies, there are unwritten customary laws that are oppressive to women. This practice in Nigeria that violates women’s property right exists both in the paternal and matrimonial families. There are pertinent issues such as discrimination against women and female children in inheriting property from their parents, loss of property due to divorce, total disinheritance from ownership of property and the ill treatment of widows will be duly considered in this paper. There will be recommendations for change in the biased cultural attitudes against females in Igbo land and also the need for strengthening laws that support and protect the rights of women in Igbo land and Nigeria as a whole.