Gender inequality and female struggles for property ownership: An examination of Pat Obi Nwagbo’s When Women Go Naked and Julie Okoh’s Our Wife Forever

Abstract

Nigeria women often encounter oppression, subjugation and disempowerment in their daily interactions. Drama being a veritable means for the propagation of societal values, developmental issues and socio-political concerns, has become an avenue for the propagation of women's rights and concerns. Nigerian playwrights have over the years, attempted to present critical issues of women's empowerment for societal reflections and possible re-assessment of values. However, much of the representations in drama have been centered on general issues of women empowerment, with little attention paid on women's disinheritance and struggles to own properties. The study adopts the content analysis approach of the qualitative research methodology in undertaking a critical assessment of two purposively selected plays that deal with issues of property rights and inheritance; for purposes of ascertaining the extent of exposure and the role of traditional and cultural structures in perpetuating inequality. The play texts are When Women Go Naked by Pat Obi Nwagbo, and Our Wife Forever by Julie Okoh. The theory used in the evaluation of this research is Stiwanism. The problem of women struggling to own property is seen in two different dimensions using the play texts, which includes female struggles to own property through Widowhood as seen in Our Wife Forever, and female struggle to own property in their family of origin, as seen in When I. Nnamah & T. Utoh- zeajugh: Gender Inequality and Female Struggles for Property Ownership 47 Women Go Naked.. Findings based on an analysis of the scenario created in the plays, show that there are hardly any restrictive measures taken against the denial of women's inheritance rights in Nigeria. The study recommends that the existing laws that accord women certain rights to inherit the property that belongs to their fathers and husbands where no wills exist, should be publicized and made more functional and that avenues should be created for societal re-orientation.