‘Ilemosu’ social stigma and desire for remarriage among female divorcees in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State, Nigeria

Abstract

Divorce is generally loathsome among the Yoruba people as it is morally reprehensible and socially stigmatized. Most women divorcees are derisively called ‘dalemosu’, a term that represents failures in nuptial affairs and lack of capacity to manage marital crisis. To obliterate or counteract the social disapproval and stigmatization attached to divorce, many victims attempt to enter into another conjugal relationship, while others may never care about the disdain with the warped notion that marriage presents lots of injustices, especially for women. They instead prefer finding solace in single parenthood. Notions that “all men are the same” and “marriage is for the lucky ones” were identified as strong factors that made a number of divorcee participants to lose confidence in institution of marriage

Keywords

• divorce
• marrying
• remarrying
• residents
• yoruba
• ‘Ilemosu’