The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.5, no.1, March 2012

Photo from Mbaise 2021

Female Husbands in Igbo Land: Southeast Nigeria by Kenneth Chukwuemeka Nwoko, Ph.D. Department of History & International Relations, Redeemer’s University, Mowe Ogun State.

Patriarchy: a Conception or Misconception? 

"...In the family, the first son was the head and the custodian of the family heirlooms like Ofo, (symbol of strength), and Chi (personal god of the family). Having custody of the Ofo, the first son known as Opara, was invested with the symbol of the family authority. 

Consequently, this patriarchal perception put the female child at a disadvantage; she was denied formal education or skill even in the contemporary times. Indeed, attention had focused only on the male child under whose headship the female and indeed the women were placed. Inheritance and other issues relating to positions of authority in Igbo land were seen as the preserves of the male. 

Though gender division was usually strict among the Igbo, there were some unique exceptions that suggest more fluidity between gender roles. Ifi Amadiume explores this in her classic book; Male Daughters, Female Husbands: Gender and Sex in an African Society. It would appear that the patrilineal base for power and authority was not without a check. The matrilineal or mother lineage, Umunne mediated in any conflict arising from patrilineal functions and power. 

For instance, as depicted in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart:  Okonkwo’s gun had exploded and a piece of iron had pierced the boy’s heart. The confusion that followed was without parallel in the tradition of Umuofia. Violent deaths were frequent but nothing like this had ever happened. The only course to Okonkwo was to flee from his clan. It was a crime against the earth goddess to kill a clansman: a man who committed it must flee from the land… and before the cock crowed Okonkwo and his family were fleeing to his motherland.

One was accorded and treated with the highest respect and regard when one visited one’s mother’s home (mother’s lineage). Similarly, whenever one was in any serious trouble with one’s father’s lineage, Umunna, the Umunne’s (mother’s lineage) decision or opinion on the matter remained decisive. This regards for the mother’s lineage was not unprecedented. 

Indeed, it derived from the two Igbo positions of esteem that were formally institutionalized in the patriarchal Igbo family; the Opara (first son) and Ada (first daughter). The first two Opara and Ada, were accorded higher status in an Igbo family.

In the Igbo world view, importance was attached to a male child more than a female or indeed any full grown woman. The obsession for a male child in every Igbo family, and in Africa generally stood a restriction to the efforts and further contributions of women. 

This cultural preference for the male child and restrictions against the female had hindered the development of women and denied them self-actualization. It is within this obsession for the male child that the ‘pregnancy’ of the concept of the female husband in Igbo land was conceived.

Source: - jessicafortunes.com/experiencing-an-igbo-traditional-wedding-igba-nkwu/