GENDER ROLES UNDER IGBO CUSTOMARY LAW: A REVIEW OF THE DECISION IN MICHEAL EZE & ORS V AGNES NNAMANI, SUIT NO. CCAE/31/2014

Abstract

Gender roles are assigned a priori under native customs acceptable to the people. These customs, founded on the underlying philosophy of ontology of the people, have been the basis of relationships and interaction among natives. This ontology can only be appreciated when viewed from the people’s prism. And unless this is understood, controversy over gender will continue to attend communal living. Questions such as who is entitled to perform funeral rites of a deceased who died intestate without a surviving male child and inherit the property of the deceased? What is the impact of a subsisting marriage of a daughter of the deceased in such circumstance? Could the absence of a legal right ground a claim based on natural justice, equity and good conscience? To what extent can a custom accepted to the people of a community be repugnant in the absence of a legal right? These issues will engage our attention in this review. The scope of this research is to examine the vexed and contentious issues of gender roles and gender entitlements under native law and custom, using the case under review as a paradigm. The methodology employed is essentially doctrinal.