The influence of religion and culture on women’s rights to property in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper seeks to establish the role of religion and culture in the realization of women’s rights to property in Nigeria. It begins by affirming that protecting women’s rights to property in Nigeria is a fundamental step towards achieving the 5th Sustainable Development Goal of gender equality. The promotion and protection of these rights in any society are determined by several factors such as the customs, prevailing traditions, as well as the religious laws that control behavioral patterns in that society. In discussing this within the Nigerian context, the paper explores the tenets of Christianity and Islam that govern women’s rights to property. The study used secondary data derived from articles that were sourced from Google Scholar. A total of nine articles was reviewed. The paper reveals that, culturally, women are viewed as inferior to men, and a male-child is generally celebrated and allotted higher portions of properties. However, the tenets of both Islam and Christianity do not disregard the woman in terms of property rights. The authors suggest that the prevailing discrimination against women has no religion backing, but a misguided exploitation of the low educational status of women in Nigeria.

Keywords

• religion
• culture
• women’s rights
• property
• inheritance