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Countries and Their Cultures
Countries and Their Cultures » Africa / Middle East » Igbo

Igbo - Marriage and Family

Marriage. Marriage is not a matter for the man and woman alone; it concerns the close
kin of both. Marriage arrangements are negotiated between the families of the
prospective bride and groom. With regard to the paternity of the wife's children, they
belong to the lineage of the husband. When a woman has children out of wedlock,
however, they belong to her natal lineage, and not to that of the children's father. Igbo
have also institutionalized marriage options permitting "female husbands" in woman-
to-woman marriages, in special circumstances. Some daughters with a male status (i.e.,
"male daughters") do not even have to marry to procreate.

Although females are brought up looking forward to this dual role, it would be
misleading to think that the major roles of women in Igbo society are as wife and
mother, since Igbo women are prominent in public life as an organized force in both
economics and politics. A significant part of a young girl's or a young man's childhood
training is geared toward their future roles in the family and as useful and responsible
citizens. Women are fully involved in matchmaking and usually participate directly or
indirectly in the actual negotiations of marital arrangements for their sons or their
daughters, in cooperation with the male members of the families concerned. Women
have powerful and active behind-the-scene roles in seeking out the girls they would like
their sons to marry. The approval of the mother is vital because the young bride is
generally expected to live with her mother-in-law and to serve her for the first few
months of marriage, until the new couple can set up an independent household and
farmland.

Domestic Unit. Most Igbo lived in villages made up of dispersed compounds. A

compound was typically a cluster of huts belonging to individual household units. The
typical Igbo village consisted of loose clusters of homesteads scattered along cleared
paths that radiated from a central meeting place. The village meeting place usually
contained the shrines or temples and groves of the local earth goddess and also served
as the market. Large communities often had two such units. Most local communities
contained anywhere between 40 and 8,000 residents. Homesteads were generally
comprised of the houses of a man, his wives, his children, and sometimes his patrilineal
cousins. They were often surrounded by mud walls and were nearly always separated
from neighboring homesteads by undergrowth or women's gardens. Northern Igbo
women normally decorated the mud walls of their houses with artwork. In the south,
houses were made of mud on a stick framework; usually either circular or rectangular,
the houses were thatched with either palm leaves or grass and were floored with beaten
mud. Co-wives had their own rooms, kitchens, and storerooms. Young children and
daughters usually stayed with their mothers, whereas the males lived in separate houses.
Population pressure and European architecture has forced significant changes in these
old settlement ideals, introducing (cement) brick houses lacking aesthetic appeal.

Inheritance. The bulk of inheritance allotments are granted to the eldest son, who, at
the time of the inheritance, becomes responsible for the welfare of his younger siblings.
If the eldest son is a minor at the time of his father's death, a paternal uncle will take
charge of the property and provide for the deceased brother's family. There is also
marriage by inheritance, or levirate—a widow may become the wife of her brother-in-
law. In some localities, widows may become the wives of the deceased father's sons by
another wife.

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