Igbo Culture, Gender Discrimination, and Health Disparities
This paper explores the intersection of personal social status, cultural heritage, and gender discrimination within Igbo society in southeastern Nigeria. After defining social status and personal culture, the paper profiles Igbo cultural traditions before focusing on three harmful practices directed at women: widowhood discrimination, female genital mutilation (FGM), and early girl-child marriage. For each practice, the paper explains its cultural justification, describes how it is carried out, and documents its physical and psychological health consequences. The analysis draws on scholarly sources and case studies to argue that while Igbo culture contains many admirable elements, practices that degrade or endanger women must be urgently reformed or abolished.
- Introduction: Social Status and Personal Culture: Defines social status and personal culture concepts
- Cultural Heritage of the Igbo People: Overview of Igbo traditions and cultural diversity
- Widowhood Discrimination: Rituals and economic hardships imposed on Igbo widows
- Female Genital Mutilation: Types and procedures of FGM practiced in Igboland
- Early Girl-Child Marriage: Cultural justifications and consequences of child marriage
- Health Disparities Caused by Igbo Cultural Practices: Physical and psychological health effects on women
- Conclusion: Call to reform harmful gender-based cultural practices
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What makes this paper effective
- Moves logically from broad definitions of social status and personal culture to a specific cultural case study, grounding abstract concepts in concrete examples.
- Uses a consistent three-part structure for each harmful practice: cultural context, description of the practice, and documented health consequences.
- Supports claims with peer-reviewed journal sources and a UN population agency reference, lending credibility to a sensitive topic.
- Balances acknowledgment of Igbo cultural richness with a clear critical stance on practices that harm women.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of embedded quotations from primary and secondary sources to substantiate claims without relying solely on paraphrase. Direct quotations from customary law rulings, UN definitions, and field-research studies are integrated into the argument, allowing authoritative voices to reinforce the writer's analysis of gender-based harm.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens with two definitional sections covering social status and Igbo cultural heritage. It then dedicates one section each to widowhood discrimination, FGM, and child marriage, followed by a synthesis section on health disparities that ties all three practices together. A brief conclusion calls for reform. This funnel structure—broad concept to specific practices to cumulative consequences—gives the argument clear forward momentum.
Introduction: Social Status and Personal Culture
Social status can be defined as the reference, prestige, or honor ascribed to an individual's personality or position in society. It may be attained by virtue of family or racial background, or through innate ability or life achievements. Other factors that determine one's social status include gender, occupation, religion, lifestyle, and education.
While culture is usually defined as a way of life of a group of people within a geographical setting, there also exists an individual level of culture known as personal culture. Personal culture is an expression of one's personal beliefs, philosophy, and perspective on life issues generally. It is usually a reflection of an individual's upbringing, which is made up of the culture, lifestyle, and belief system to which the person is exposed. Additional shaping factors include gender, history, education, residential location, and disability ("Social Categories").
It is common for one's personal culture to be predominantly shaped by society's general customs; that, however, does not negate the existence of personal views on life. In large societies where diverse cultures coexist, it is common to see some cultures dominate others. These cultural diversities can be observed almost everywhere that large populations are made up of different subgroups. While these subgroups are generally classified under one tradition, cultural disparities can still be noticed — disparities that stem from differences in the historical backgrounds of each subgroup. They mainly influence people's inclinations and preferences regarding various elements of their existence, shaping their identities, approaches, and habits. One area of daily life that is particularly affected by culture and gender is healthcare.
Cultural Heritage of the Igbo People
The Igbo people are the indigenes of Igboland, which spreads across six states of the Southeast geopolitical zone of Nigeria, West Africa. While the origin of the Igbo people has been subject to various speculations by different researchers and opinion leaders, these people have elegantly maintained the rich cultures inherited from their ancestors ("Igbo"). Being the second-largest region in the southern part of the country, the land consists of different subgroups, which explains its cultural diversity. That diversity has made it possible for the average Igbo person to live, survive, and thrive anywhere, as Igbo people are frequently found maintaining their cultural identity both within and outside the country. The critical elements of Igbo tradition include their distinctive cuisine, dress, language, and occupational practices.
However, while the Igbo people are widely celebrated for their rich culture, high level of intellectualism, and strong work ethic, there are other aspects of that culture which have been broadly criticized for being antipeople and antidevelopment. Like many other African traditions, Igbo culture has historically afforded little regard to the female gender, with patriarchy strongly entrenched in practice. Some of the socio-cultural biases against Igbo women include widowhood discrimination, female genital mutilation, and girl-child marriage.
Widowhood Discrimination
In Igboland, the widowhood process begins immediately upon a woman's husband's death, and various rituals are expected to be performed by the widow. The culture has no regard for the emotional state of the newly widowed woman. She is compelled to fulfill all obligations as stipulated by tradition, regardless of her own perceptions or feelings at the time. In Ebonyi State, for instance, widows are subjected to different levels of ritual depending on the position of the deceased husband. While these rituals vary according to education level and social status in a given community, there remain those that must compulsorily be carried out irrespective of the background of the deceased or the widow. One mandatory ritual is the compulsory wailing and rolling on the floor by the widow to demonstrate her grief (Chukwu, Emeka, Obi, & Kalu, 2014). This is expected from the time of her husband's passing until he is buried.
Another dimension of widowhood discrimination in Igboland is the economic hardship to which widows and their dependent children are typically subjected following the loss of a husband. Using the case of Mrs. Gertrude Melo as a reflection of the economic hardship meted out against widows in the region, Chukwu et al. (2014) narrated how Melo's husband's siblings maltreated her and expelled her after selling off family properties and handing her a paltry 20,000 naira — less than $150. The poor widow and her two sons were rendered homeless and driven away from their home. While there have been calls from various quarters for the abolishment of widowhood discrimination in Igboland, the laws of the land have not done enough to curtail this archaic tradition.
Many court decisions, according to Nwogwu (2015), support customs that embody inequality and discrimination against women in the region. Part of the position of customary law regarding widowhood and property ownership states that "wherein the court held that the Onitsha Native Law and custom postulates that a married woman, on the death of her husband without a male issue, with the concurrence of her husband's family, may deal with his (deceased's) property; her dealings, of course, must receive the consent of the family." With laws framed in this manner, achieving full rights for widows in the region will remain a significant challenge.
Conclusion
The Igbo culture is a heritage that observers have widely regarded as being richly developed. It has many positive elements that serve as a source of pride to its indigenes. However, the negative aspects of that culture — particularly the violence and degradation directed at the female gender — must be abolished. Womanhood should be held in high esteem; therefore, any cultural practice that falls short of that standard must be reviewed as a matter of urgency.
References
"19 Social Categories." Journal of Transcultural Nursing (III Social Categories: Section E 1–19).
Chukwu, C. C., Scent, G. A., Emeka, J. O., Obi, C. O., and Kalu, E. O. (2014). Violence against women in Igboland, South-east, Nigeria: A critical quest for change. International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 6(2), 49–58.
"Female Genital Mutilation" (2018). FGM frequently asked questions. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). https://www.unfpa.org/resources/female-genital-mutilation-fgm-frequently-asked-questions
"Igbo." Countries and Their Cultures. https://www.everyculture.com/wc/Mauritania-to-Nigeria/Igbo.html
Nwogwu, M. I. (2015). The legal anatomy of cultural widowhood practices in South Eastern Nigeria: The need for a panacea. Global Journal of Politics and Law Research, 3(1), 79–90.
Uzoamaka, E., Achunam, N., Obiageli, F. E., and Amobi, L. I. (2018). The epidemiology of female genital mutilation in Nigeria — A twelve-year review. ResearchGate.
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