THE NIGERIAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY
ISSN: 0331-4111 e-ISSN: 2736-075X
Volume 22, No. 2, November 2024
Pages 102-114
DOI: 10.36108/NJSA/4202.22.0270
Cultural Practices and Women’s Rights among Idoma and Ogugu Peoples of North-Central, Nigeria: Implications for Poverty Reduction and Sustainable Development
Timothy Abayomi Atoyebi and Edime Yunusa
Department of Sociology, Prince Abubakar Audu University, Anyigba, Kogi State, Nigeria
Abstract
Discrimination against women has assumed a central position in discussions globally and, in particular many less developed countries of sub-Saharan Africa. A plethora of discussions on women’s discrimination tends to pay scant attention to the impediments of cultural practices and traditional beliefs. These impediments have had implications for poverty reduction and sustainable development in relevant Nigerian communities. Most women in Nigeria are largely poor and are currently living below the poverty line. Though several studies have investigated the issue of culture and women’s rights in Nigeria, limited investigations have been conducted on the challenges of balancing cultural practices and traditional beliefs with sustainable development in Nigeria. Employing the marxian feminist perspective, the paper adopted the use of secondary data to examine the challenges of some cultural practices and traditional beliefs in Nigeria. In particular, the paper highlights certain cultural practices among the Idoma and Ogugu in Benue and Kogi states respectively, that exemplify the impingement of culture on the feminization of poverty. In addition, the paper examined some traditional beliefs such as inheritance of women by their deceased husband’s relation, widow’s succession rights, refund of bride price after divorce and divorce related stigmatization.
Keywords: Cultural practices and development, traditional beliefs and women’s rights, feminization of poverty, poverty reduction in North-Central Nigeria