1.1 Introduction
Widow inheritance is a cultural and social practice whereby a widow is required to marry a male relative of her late husband, often his brother. The practice is more commonly referred as a levirate marriage, examples of which can be found in ancient and biblical times. The practice was instituted as a means for the widow to have someone to support her and her children financially, and to keep her late husband's wealth within the family bloodline. At the time it was initiated, women were responsible for the house chores and men were the providers, therefore if the woman lost her husband, she would have no one to provide for the remaining family. Because her in-laws would not want someone outside of the family's blood line to inherit her late husband's estate, she was required to marry within the family (Wikepedia, 2021).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Research hypothesis and questions, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
A widow is a woman whose husband has died (Catherine Soanes 2001). The state of having lost ones spouse to death is termed widowhood. Problem of widows have been an important social issue in many societies in which the husband was typically the bread winner. His sudden death could plunge his family into poverty. Not only poverty but also loneliness, because a couple living together, having everything in common, buying property together, sharing things in common, along the line death just sneaked in and steal the husband, for sure that woman's life span has been reduced.
Babatunde and Owasanoye (ed) (2001) stated that in some patriarchal societies widows could maintain economic independence. A widow could carry on her late husbands business and consequently be accorded certain rights, such as the right to her husband's wealth and property.
According to Okoye (1999) in Nsukka communities widows are often victims of human cultural practices, widows are denied the right to what rightly belong to them. Widows' rights international (2008) noted that the treatment of widows continues to abrogate their human rights. In some part of Africa, widows are still subject to traditional practices which lead to their poverty, social ostracism and exclusion as well as loss of their homes and children. Okoye (1999) pointed out that in many cultures widows have no right to inheritance or land ownership, and even where modern legislation provides such rights ignorance of the law of widows or cultural practices impede their access to it. Most of these deprivations has great impact on the live of widows.
Impact is defined as a noticeable effect or influence on something (Catherine Soanes 2001). The following are some of the impact deprivation has on widows: Poverty; Across the wide spectrum of countries, religions, and ethnic groups, a woman is left destitute when her husband dies, poverty is often made worse by little or no access to other economic resources, and by illiteracy or lack of education.
Violence against women is one of the most widespread violations of human right, affecting widows in all background. Widows are no exception and may infact be at particularly high risk of violence.
The children of widows are often affected, both emotionally and economically. Widowed mothers, now supporting their families alone, are forced to withdraw children from school and to rely on their labour. Moreover, the daughters of widows may suffer multiple deprivations increasing their vulnerability to abuse. Widows can become liable for the debts of a deceased spouse. This serious abuse of the human rights of widows and their children is still unrecognized even by organization that is concerned with human rights violations.
Therefore, in Nigeria where the research was carried out, the activities that was conducted is to know the Impact of Deprivation of Widows Inheritance Right by their Husbands Relatives.
1.3 Statement of Problems
Widowhood has serious implications for the physical and mental well being of women. Widows face a myriad of problems such as economic, social and psychological feeling particularly in the first year or so after the death of their spouse. Fasoranti and Runa (2003) noted that when a man dies his widow is now deprived of his income and the nucleus of the family is destroyed. Afigbo (1990) revealed that at the death of a woman's husband, she would be expected to surrender all the man's property including bank account to the relations for appropriation.
Babatunde and Owasonye (2001) revealed that in some communities, the woman would be accused of master, minding the husband's death even where it is very apparent that he died a natural or accidental death. Hence the widowhood rites would begin by making the woman to pass through “acid” test such as drinking bitter water, swearing in a shrine, or even drinking the water used to bath the husband's corpse e.t.c.
It is believed that if she survives any of a combination of these, then she is free from the guilt of causing her husband's death. This project is necessitated by the need to conduct an indebt research work on the impact of deprivation of widow's inheritance rights by their husband's relatives and also to carry out some research inorder to find a proper solution to the existing problems.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of Study
The aim of the study is to examine the Impact of Deprivation of Widows Inheritance Right by their Husbands Relatives. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows:
- To determine how the denial of widows rights affect their well being.
- To identify the cultural practices that relates denial of rights of widows to have access to their dead husband’s properties.
- To examine how he people in Nsukka communities deny widow's the right to inherit their husband's properties.
- To proffer solutions to the problems involved in depriving widows inheritance rights by their husband’s relatives.
1.5 Research Questions
The study came up with research questions so as to be able to ascertain the above stated objectives. The specific research questions for the study are stated below as follows:
- How does the denial of widow's right affect their well beings?
- What are the cultural practices that relate to denial of rights of widows to have access to their dead husband's properties?
- How do the people of Nsukka communities deny widows the right to inherit their husband's properties?
- What are the ways and methods widows can fight and claim the right to their husband's properties?
1.6 Research Hypothesis
In order to pursue the objective of this study, the following generalized statements have been designed to guide and aids in obtaining the result for the experiment to be conducted. For this work, the null hypothesis will be represented with H0 while the alternative hypothesis will be represented with hypothesis H1.
- H0: There is no significant factor militating the deprivation of widows inheritance rights by their Husbands Relatives
- H1: There is a significant factor militating the deprivation of widows inheritance rights by their Husbands Relatives
1.7 Significance of Study
Widowhood is one of the most significance negative life events at any age of a woman. This study will reveal the negative cultural practices associated with widowhood in Nsukka communities. This study will benefit widows by eliminating some harmful cultural beliefs and practices associated with widowhood.
This study will also help families to know that when a woman in being married into a particular family, she is already part and parcel of the family, is still a strong member of the family. This study will also help the widow and un-widowed women to know their rights no matter the cultural aspects, for them to stand firm when the wind blow.
And this should be done through organizing of seminars, conferences, during August meeting, and women wing meeting etc. during such gathering a lot of women will be there, then the organizers will teach them what to do as their rights. By so doing the Ignorance of some widows will be cutting down and they will know their rights.
1.8 Scope of Study
This study is limited to samples drawn from only Nsukka. The samples will be drawn from both rural and urban communities of Nsukka Local Government Area of Enugu State. The sample will be only females both educated and uneducated, selected from Nsukka Local Government Area.
1.9 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
1.10 Definition of Terms
Widow: A widow is a woman whose husband has died (Catherine Soanes 2001). The state of having lost one’s spouse to death is termed widowhood.
Impact: Impact is defined as a noticeable effect or influence on something (Catherine Soanes 2001).
Widow Inheritance: Widow Inheritance is a cultural and social practice whereby a widow is required to marry a male relative of her late husband, often his brother.
