Women inheritance in the Ibibio Traditional Society

Abstract

This paper is aimed at evaluating the women inheritance practices in Ibibio traditional society with reference to change and continuity. Inheritance, which  involves the transfer of property from parents to heirs, is a normative experience which every, family regardless of sociocultural settings, must  experience to ensure that family and social system are fulfilled. However, the transfer of properties from older generations to the younger generation has  become a major problem in African society. It was a tradition of the people in Ibibio that female children must not inherit any property such as lands,  houses from the family nor widows at the demise of their husbands, but in recent times, it seems the practice has changed. The gap this work sets  out to fill therefore is to discover if truly this practice has changed. This paper adopts historical approach. To enrich the work with vital facts, oral  interview was equally conducted. From the information gathered, it is discovered that women inheritance in traditional Ibibio society has changed over- time as women are now given full fledged freedom to inherit property of all kinds. This paper recommends that parents should not place or prioritize a  gender above the other in privileges and inheritance right. This is important because both male and female children have their responsibilities based on  financial status, not gender.