The Igbo Tradition Of Women Marrying Women

A strange marriage tradition to protect infertile and widowed women

igbo

Among the Igbo people of southern Nigeria in Ebonyi State, you can find the unique cultural tradition of women marrying women; this practice was designed as a means to protect infertile women in their marriages. It allows for an infertile married woman to wed another lady who has already had children. This enables the infertile married woman to have children as the offspring of the other women become her own.

This practice helps to dissuade ‘village people’ from taking possession of the property of an infertile woman when her husband dies. Another example of how this marriage protects women is in the case of the husband’s family plotting to kill him to claim his properties due to a lack of children. This tradition steps in to give the infertile woman children to carry on her husband’s name.

The infertile woman can obtain permission from her living husband for this type of marriage and still remains wed to him after marrying the woman. The type of women chosen for the infertile married women to marry are those with fatherless children; the fatherless children take on the surname of the infertile woman’s husband and become part of that family.

As we gain more understanding of the circumstances that infertile married women face, before and after the death of their husband, we see why this tradition is important. In traditional life, husbands and children are necessary protection for their wives. In situations where a married woman loses her husband or can’t bear children, she becomes marginalized and targeted in society

Despite the clear positives of this marriage, some religions strongly disapprove of this as it is seen as a form of adultery. Individuals who practice such tradition would beg to differ as the tradition seriously disapproves any form of sexual intercourse between the ladies The marriage is solely to protect the women, benefit the children and continue the family name.

Do you think this type of marriage would function well in our current social setup?

#OddCulture is a series highlighting strange and unique cultural practices. In this segment, we tackle the importance of woman-woman marriage.