Zik Journal of Multidisciplinary Research: Volume 3, 44-55
GENDER ROLES IN IGBO CULTURE: AN OVERVIEW
Harry Obi-Nwosu
Department of Psychology,
Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.
royaldioka@[Link] ; [Link]@[Link]
Abstract
This paper made a synoptic essay on the pride of place of the female in African culture, using
the Igbos of Eastern Nigeria as a case study. The paper used the evolutionary theory, and
social role theory to show that gender roles among Igbos from pre historic times were not
arbitrarily assigned but evolved, and that up to the moment, survival of any species in an
ecosystem depends on proper adjustment to demands of the environment, including
delineation of roles. It also explained that Igbos did not engage in retrograde widowhood
practices nor defined discriminatory inheritance of parent’s properties, and that the female
gender participated actively in the policy/politics and adjudication processes at the highest
level in the ‘original’ cultural setting. It concludes that Igbos could have been the oldest
democracy in the world.
Keywords: Igbo Culture, Igbos, Gender Roles, Customs, Female Child.
Introduction
For several decades, most of African cultures and customs have been demeaned and
described as uncivilized, and in some quarters as discriminatory against girls and women.
While one may not authoritatively defend every aspect of ‘black man’s customs (though it
may not be necessary to do so), it has become important to take a synoptic look at the
severally touted issue of gender suppression and discrimination among Igbos of Eastern
Nigeria with a view of encouraging proper evaluation of indigenous customs before
throwing them overboard; perhaps consequent on sheer slave mentality. The paper will
therefore define the constructs of interest, offer theoretical explanation for gender roles
and in that context explain the ‘original’ customary practices that have been misperceived
as discriminatory, then conclude.
Culture
Culture has been defined as a people’s way of life, which embodies their belief systems,
arts, music, values, institutions and religion. It as an umbrella term which encompasses
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social behaviour and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs,
arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups. According to
Merriam-Webster (2020), Culture is the customary belief , social norms and material traits
of a racial, religious or social group, it is also seen as set of values, conventions or social
practices associated with a particular societal characteristic (sub-culture)
([Link] retrieved 18th April 2020. In these definitions two
words are particularly germane to our current discussion: custom, and law; Although none
of the featured words in the definitions are any less important.
Custom describes something that is done by people in a particular society because it is
traditional; ([Link]) (and tradition simply suggests the transmission of
customs from generation to generation). So practices that are transmitted from generation
to generation are customs, and aggregates of customs make up the culture.
Theoretical Overview on Gender (Roles)
Having defined and explained culture and custom, it is reasonable to underlie the
development of customs/culture using existing psychological theories. Psychological
theories are necessary since culture and custom are all about human health and social
behaviour, and relationship with the environment. Two theories: The Evolutionary and
the Social-role theories here under evoked to showcase the origin and sustaining force of
many cultural practices, especially Gender roles.
Evolutionary Psychologists view human cognition and behavior from a broad Darwinian
persuasion of adaptation to evolving physical and social environments, and new
intercultural challenges. These theorists hold that species that survive in an ecosystem are
those that develop characteristics that enhance adaptability to the environment while
those that lack survival characteristics get extinct: the grand concepts of natural selection
and survival of the fittest have thus been used to explain the core philosophy of the
Evolutionary theory. Simply put, as environments increase in sophistication and existential
challenges, members and occupants of that ecosystem that are able to develop adaptive
characteristics (strategies and features inclusive) conquer the existential threats, procreate
and retain their kinds while the rest get eliminated.
Evolutionary theory therefore explains gender roles in terms of evolutionary demands that
ensure survival and retention of the human species in the ecosystem (the geographical area
under consideration). Accordingly, before the advent of education; ‘gold and white collar’
jobs, males were expected to be able to protect their families (wife/wives and children),
while females who have a greater stake in not squandering their fewer reproductive
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chances place a greater priority in selecting mates (husbands) with the ability to commit
resources to protecting and nurturing their young. It follows that the roles ascribed to
females by common traditions’ evolved as human species worked hard to retain the Homo
sapiens on Earth. These roles would keep adjusting itself as the environmental forces shape
them. Perhaps, it will get to a time when there would be no need to care for children, yet
they will survive, or when males will develop characteristics (biological/physiological, as
well as psychological to nurture children as well as when the best method to rear children
shall be through machines, or even the Homo Sapiens shall increase through binary
fission… . This theory must be concluding thus: For humans to remain human beings,
children must be reared as human beings, and someone most equipped with cogent
characteristics heve to do that. In the culture/custom of the Igbos, the female is that! She is
thus seen as holding the ace for continued existence of the ‘race’ and must be protected
and cherished.
The Social role theory, a more resent theory and perhaps a fall out of the evolutionary
theory holds that various influences including childhood experiences and factors bend
males and females towards differing roles that eventually affect our perceptions and
behaviour as men and women. Eagly and Wood (1999) posit that biological (anatomical
and physiological) make up and childhood experiences are major factors that predispose to
a sexual division of labour. Hence in adult life, the immediate causes of gender differences
in social behavior are the roles that reflect the ‘sexual’ division of labour. In effect , men
endowed with apparatuses that engender strength and greed tend to be found in roles
demanding physical power, while women’s capacity for child bearing and nursing inclines
them to more nurturing roles. Each sex then tends to exhibit those behaviors expected of
those who fill such roles and have their skills and beliefs shaped accordingly. In this
connection, Myers (2007) observed that cultural norms subtly but powerfully affect human
attitudes and behavior, but they do not do so independently of biology: everything
psychological and social is ultimately biological, and that what human biological heritage
initiates, culture accentuates. In other words, if genes and hormones predispose males to
be more muscular and more physically aggressive than females, culture may amplify this
difference through norms that expect males to be tough and females to be kinder and
gentler.
These theories help to give bearing to gender roles and differential role performances even
in contemporary society. They as well must make sense to people who believe in
creationism: fundamental gender roles were set out by the Creator so as to fulfill the
purpose(s) of creation. Reversal of these roles must thus have far reaching negative
consequences to species continued habitation in the current habitat. However, as the
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environment evolves, and more roles emerge, further differentiation may lead to necessary
role adjustments to ensure the survival of human beings in the various local ecosystems, as
on the planet: the common habitat.
The questions then are: How is the mode of family property inheritance in South-East
Nigeria related to this scheme of ‘survival’? Is this method/custom against the welfare of
the Female child, even at the current (2020) level of western education and globalization?
(how is this connected to father’s, and to late husband’s property).
First, let us take an overview of the pride of place of the female child in Igbo clime: as a
child/daughter, then as a wife and mother. It seems a universal observation that female
children are loved and cherished by their fathers, while the males are cherished by their
mothers. This perhaps is not a function of the Oedipus complex as many may wish to
suggest. It is however due to the understanding that in-laws are very important members
of the Igbo extended family system, and because men think more of their old age and death
/burial ceremonies, they always pray to have their female children protected and married
out to competent males for the roles traditionally set for them at the ending of life (Anatogu
2000). On the other hand, males bring in the woman’s helping hand after she has ‘lost’ the
first one; her girl- child! The daughter(s) in law become(s) a companion/companions: It is
therefore not correct/or empirically evidenced that men love the boys more than the girls.
Nonetheless, almost every Igbo man would want to have at least a son, more so in these
days of Christian-Igbo culture. The boys are mainly sought to assist the man in his trade
and family upkeep as well as territorial security. The foregoing is further buttressed by the
common names: males are called Ikem, Ezeaputa, Orji, Onyeogu, etc, while sample female
names among Igbos include Ngozi, Amaka, Obianuju, Nwakaego, Nwando, Akwaugo, and
Apunanwu (market day names excluded), while wives were/are addressed as Oriaku
(meant to consume wealth). Note also that unmarried men were regarded as irresponsible
and not admitted to policy making meetings.
Indeed, it is the misguided or misunderstood Christian or emerging Igbo culture: the one
that is a mixture of cultures, or adulterated foreign and Igbo custom(s) that ‘hyperbole’ the
place of the male child against the female child. Originally, capable Igbo men were
traditionally polygamous hence, many a time, there were no issues about male or female
children. However, in the rather few instances where a man died without a son, no
property of his was taken over by anybody because:
a) The wife could accept to become ‘married’ to her late husband’s brother.
b) A female child of the man could be retained to bear children in her father’s name or
c) The woman/wife marries another wife on her husband’s behalf.
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Indeed, many a second or third wife in those days were married by the first wife after years
of infertility (primary or secondary, or for gender mix) hence most polygamous families
lived in peace. These were methods of adoption of children among Igbos. Unfortunately,
many of these customs have been ‘criminalized’ by the foreign culture mix that confused
the place of pride of the girl child among Igbos for discrimination.
Marriage of a Deceased Brother’s Wife to his Brother.
This practice of those days: where a man died and leaving a young wife and children, then
the young woman gets re-married to a man in the family has been described as ugly and
unacceptable by the ‘modern woman’, and taken into the mainstream untoward cultural
practices by rather uninformed persons and unschooled activists. The description above
may seem harsh but is objective, considering that those who fight against the practice as
evil never cared to accept that it was at a point in human societal development very
ingenious and desirable. The traditional Igbos cherished integrity at individual and family
levels, and any new wife was called ‘nwunyedi’, literally meaning my husband’s wife.
Hence every wife was as well the other brother’s wife except for sexual gratification at the
time they both lived.
However, if one lost the husband, formalization rites must be performed before the ‘other
husband’ could have conjugal rights: it used to be a mutual thing supported by the
evolutionary theory. This author witnessed a case where none of the brothers of the
deceased was willing/capable to carry on with the responsibility, and the woman was
handed over every parcel of land (even those she didn’t know about) and the late
husband’s house, and every bit of thing the man had, and this was sealed by a ritual that
made it an abomination for any person to trespass. In effect, it is not correct to say that the
custom of the Igbos do not allow wives to take over their husband’s property if they had no
male children. This woman was then at liberty to either marry on behalf of her husband to
keep the family linage going, or have any of her daughters bear children for the same
purpose, and they could enjoy the full inheritance and respect in the kindred and village.
Two questions that readily yearn for answers are: if this practice were morally
unbecoming, why did St. Paul according to the Bible ( Ist Cor. 7:8 – 9; Ist. Tim. 5: 7)
prescribe that young widows should preferably remarry? Again, how many young widows
remain without active sexuality after the first year of their late husband’s demise?
Observation and evidence show that overwhelming majority remarry legally or illegally
soon after the mandatory mourning period. Nonetheless, and importantly too, by the
Christian marital oath, the marital contract automatically dissolves at the death of a spouse
(….until death do us part): so what makes remarriage to a family member a dastardly
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sin…..it is not oyibo? Yet some Oyibo marry third cousins! May it be recalled at this point
that among Igbos, a child born by an unmarried girl belongs to her father completely. In
fact, in some parts of Igboland, once a man learns that her child is pregnant out of marriage,
he would not accept any bride price; he has to take his new child before marrying out her
daughter.
It seems unequivocal that this practice/custom/tradition of the Igbos is ingenious, and has
Devine approval. Even though the practice may not scale through extant marital
arrangements because of conventional/contemporary individualistic relationships, work
and labour laws, urbanization, and the like, it must not be viewed as disrespectful or
derogatory to womanhood; except if promiscuity were a more desirable behavior than
prudence and proper nurturing of children which were envisaged by the original practice.
Married Female Child’s Inheritance of Her Father’s Property.
Another issue that has raised unnecessary dust is family assets. Some careless women
rights’ activists over orchestrate the issue of sharing deceased fathers landed properties. In
this case also, one must state without any fear of contradiction that female Igbos are
entitled to their fathers wealth as much as the males. An unmarried daughter as shown in
the paragraphs above could have children for the family and the male child is considered
and treated like the deceased fathers child/children. In cases where the female child is yet
to get married, she is entitled to ‘farmland’ for her upkeep along with her mother. The
issue of perpetual ownership of land comes in issue where the man of the house did not
make a Will. But if a man shared her landed property and gave any parcel of land to his
daughter(s) that would remain. Igbos hold that ‘Onye nwenu n’eke’ (one is entitled to
share or give out what belongs to him as he wishes). This practice is valid even up to this
moment.
One practice (marital custom) that has persisted till date which most people do not
understand is the Idu-Uno ceremony: where a family gives gifts to their daughter after
wedlock to enhance her settlement in the new family. This is the point at which the female
child is given her own portion of her father’s or family wealth to go and start her own
family, much the same way the man shares/gives out portions of his wealth to his sons at
various times to settle them into their respective families. In Igbo culture, wealthy men
own vast expanses of land and during Idu-Uno they may give (and are used to giving)
landed property to their daughters. Daughters therefore not only inherit land, but may also
inherit houses. It is thus ignorance or malice that makes people misrepresent Igbo
culture/custom as one that does not permit female ownership/inheritance of landed
property. As a matter of fact, people (in those days) go for “ugly” girls with wealthy parents
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who most likely would be given parcel of land for Idu-Uno, and many wealthy men in those
days used to keep aside parcels of land for the purpose of beloved daughter’s Idu-Uno
whether they are alive or dead by the time of the girl child’s marriage. It is therefore settled
that girls, as well as boys in Igboland receive various Idu-Uno gifts from their parents at
different times, and the items could include landed property if the man were wealthy
enough.
A proposal to give part of a building of five rooms to a married daughter just to show her
belongingness to the father’s household still looks as stupid as it was in the olden days.
However, if a woman returned from the marital home and had no children, the father’s
household still had to give her proportionate inheritance. Unfortunately, most women that
had marital misfortune and returned, never returned with the Idu-Uno materials, so they
should not in good conscience expect their siblings to ‘settle them’ with her own
inheritance. They could only benefit from the remaining common pool (if any). Is this
illogical, segregational, or against human rights? You may read about the return of a son
after Idu-Uno in the Bible:Luke15, emphasis on verse 31.
I guess it is bare and clear from the foregoing that both the male and female children are
helped to start their own families at appropriate times (as Idu-Uno or Ipu-Obi) with as
much wealth as the parents could afford. There is no igbo traditional law or rule that sets
limits to what a father may give to his daughter or son. Wisdom and necessity demands
that the male who would remain in situ should live in his father’s house if the father has
one since the female child would inherit another house alongside the husband. What could
be fairer than this? Igbos were indeed very wise and civilized!
It must be put on record that until the advent ‘modern Igbos’, the body of a deceased
daughter used to be brought back to the fathers house for burial. This author had the
privilege of witnessing this, and another, where the ‘ibunaga ngiga’ ceremony had to be
performed before the body could be buried in the husband’s place. This practice further
demonstrated the high regards accorded the female child in the original Igbo culture.
Indeed, even up to this moment, Igbos are more troubled physically and spiritually if they
fail to see to it that a late daughter got befitting burial: Ozu nwada na anyi ajo alo (dead
body of a daughter is very heavy) is a usual saying among Igbos because; should a female
be denied her rights even at death, her spirit will weigh the family down: prosperity would
cease, untimely deaths will abound and even mental ill-health will be the lot of the family
until all issues regarding the missing daughter were resolved, and her spirit appeased.
Again, this author was privileged to witness the Nwada issue emanating post slave trade
and the eventual resolution of the matter as summarized above. The point is that even at
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death it may seem that the female child is more revered than the male, but no: the actuality
is that each child used to get what he/she needed to survive, procreate, and maintain the
species in the ecosystem.
Concerning the Traditional Legal System.
The wisdom and democratic nature of Igbos seems to be the best in history. While it is not
true that Igbos did not have kings, it is true that Igbo kings did not usually exercise
autocratic powers. They were leaders whose biggest authority was at the worst
authoritative style. The kings (Eze or Obi or Igwe) most of the time acted like the senate
president of today. He took every issue to his council of elders, evoked the existing
regulations already established by accepted norms, and in contentious issues ‘had the
casting vote”. Again, the kings were under dangerous oaths not to malign the integrity of
the stool and the ‘eye of the gods’ were around to remind them from time to time. A near
case scenario is found in the current traditional arrangement of Nri in Njikoka L.G.A of
Anambra state, where up to this time (2020) good part the tradition regarding the throne
has been sustained: The traditional ruler is powerful to the extent he is righteous and
integrous.
However, disputes did not go straight to the king’s palace/court. Disputes were first
treated at the extended family level (umunna), with the eldest member presiding while
other male members make up the jury. Hence, Igbos operated the Jury system not the
imported bench system in the practice in Nigeria. Where a case could not be resolved at the
family level, or if it were inter family dispute, the village head would convene the elders in
another Jury at that level, pleas and witnesses were taken before majority verdicts would
be upheld. No village head or Isi-Nze had the authority of a judge as it is known today. It
was when a dispute could not be resolved at the level of the village, or where two villages
were involved, the central administration in the Igwe/Obi/Eze and his ‘court’ or council of
elders handled the case. Only criminal cases could jump this protocol.
Women at these levels also treated minor issues that concerned only women but reported
more serious violations to the relevant male ‘courts’, including non compliance with
verdicts. Perhaps the one outstanding Jury that seems to have been forgotten in many parts
of Igbo land is the herein described as the ‘Superior Court’. Cases were rarely referred to
this ‘court’, and it does not convene as regularly as all others. The court is the Umu-Okpu:
(Daughters of the land who though married even to other towns get initiated into this
group at appropriate time). They deal with serious matters that defy the other levels, or
interlocutory appeals from those levels. That is, should someone or group lose confidence
in the appeal Jury (Igwe/Elders court) the last resort was the Umu-Okpu. This court was
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reputed to be zero tolerant to corruption and acutely dispassionate. It was a feared Jury
such that uncharitable people would rather settle out of court than present themselves to
this ‘court’ since non compliance with their verdict could eventuate to death when/if they
commit same to the gods through a ritual they alone could perform.
In contemporary society, the Umu-Ada ‘stand in’ for this group- yes they are the Daughters,
but foreign culture did corrupt the original Umu-okpu society and it lost a host of its
powers as it’s initiation rituals were forbidden by the Christians as Idol worship. However,
it must be put on record that many communities still repose a level of confidence on the
Umu-ada. In a rather recent case, this group used the ‘traditional method’ to settle a case of
recalcitrant spouse violence in Dunukofia, and the male culprit learnt the lesson of his life,
while the village stood still as no one dared go to the police.
The emphasis here is that irrespective of minor differences in the cultural
adjudication/conflict resolution mechanism among communities in Igbo land, the women
were not marginalized, and in many communities (if not most), the Umu-Okpu /Umu-Ada
were invited to settle the most difficult of cases and to restore peace. Importantly too, Obi-
Nwosu (2011) asserted that in many parts of Igbo land, eligible women were admitted into
the Masquerade cult (the traditional administrators and secret preservers of such
communities), and up to now, in some communities Nne-Nmonwu (Female patron of
masquerades) still exist. Indeed, Igbo culture did not exclude women from decision making
processes or policy making. It is the contaminated and imported culture that distanced
women from the policy table.
Concerning Early Marriage and Mourning of Late Husband/Dehumanizing
Widowhood Practices.
In an earlier paragraph, the custom regarding the issue of inheritance of a husband’s
wealth was explained so it could be taken for granted that the reader has understood that
the Igbo culture and custom has no place of untoward widowhood practices. Wickedness,
hatred and abuse are everyday words in every part of the world and this part is not exempt
from these. In the original culture, the deity is feared and there are extents that people
must not go, else the woman’s family may get involved and deities may also get involved. If
shaving of scalp hair is the issue, this author would ask the reader to refer to the Bible (1st
Cor.11:5-6) to assist to explain that the ritual was meant to not only show last respect to
the man but as a parting symbol signifying that the woman has no husband again.
Paraphrased, it is one of the liberation rituals in Igbo land: End of a contract!
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As for forced early/premature marriage, this is not a part of the Igbo culture at all. Very
poor families may support early marriage of their children as is obtainable all over the
world, hence early marriage was usually a function of poverty, not culture, and these were
few. However, there was a culture of arranged marital promises: two friends may agree
that their children would get married even when their children were minors. This practice
had stopped several decades ago but it must be noted that at that time most marriages had
no courtship history and were successful.
Religion
Perhaps, one of the strongest points of culture is religion. All peoples of the world at one
point in time in history had some form of religious practice that shaped their relationship
with one another, and the unknown. In Igbo land, besides the unseen Chi-Ukwu (The
Almighty), other chis (deities), responsible for everyday problem solving had shrines in
every community. Several of these shrines still exist till date, and some (a good number)
are female in connotation. Most communities had both shrines for gods and goddesses of
which Anatogu (2004) suggested that the Roman Catholic mission spread first in Igbo land
because they had two god images: male and female, so the people were able to replace
some of their attachments as opposed to the CMS that was older, but had more abstract
teachings. This narrative showcases the relevance of females in Igbo culture and
cosmogram. At no level of the cosmogram had women/female representation been
maligned. Obi-Nwosu (2011) suggests strongly that the integration of women in all facets
of the life of Igbos contributed to the greatness of the people in community administration
(politics) and in commerce. Indeed, the Igbos could be regarded as the oldest democracy on
earth: Perhaps, what Europe and the United States of America have done is to sharpen and
put down on paper the democratic principles already in practice by pre-historic Igbos.
Conclusion
This paper set out to debunk the widely held but erroneous belief that Africans, but
especially the Igbo cultural/customary heritage is antagonistic to gender equity with bias
against the female. By the evocation of the Evolutionary and Gender-role theories, it was
shown that Igbos had no customary based gender discrimination, rather, that Igbos had
been a democratic people with well set out policy making and ‘legal’ institutions of which
women were very active at all levels. Gender roles should therefore not be a matter of
legislation. It should evolve; new roles should evolve as families, communities and human
kind continue to do the needful to ensure survival of Homo sapiens on the planet earth. If
legislation could change such things without damage, why has America not produced a first
female president? Indeed, it is foreign adulteration of Igbo culture that engendered
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reduction of the roles of women in the affairs of ‘Igbo nation’ if at all., but most importantly
it is political business to use gender discrimination to attract pecuniary interests since
practically Igbos advances more than most parts of the developed world I this arena.
References
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public
Lecture delivered at St. Paul’s College Awka (May 2004).
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Eagly, A., and Wood, W. (1999). The origins of sex differences in human behaviour:
Evolved dispositions versus social roles. London; Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Merriam-Webster, (2020). Culture. ([Link] retrieved 18th
April 2020.
Myers, D. C. (2007). Social Psychology (Eighth Edition). Delhi: TATA McGraw – Hill.
Obi-Nwosu, H. (2011). Consolidating democracy through enhanced participation of women
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