The Values and Usefulness of Same-Sex Marriages Among the Females in Igbo Culture in the Continuity of Lineage or Posterity

Abstract

The Igbo world in Southeastern Nigeria, as a patriarchal society, believes in passing the family inheritance along the male line excluding the female. This sociocultural belief and practice leads to gender role problems, especially in the case of families with no children or male child who will inherit the family estate. Same-sex marriage among women is used to bridge the gap created by the challenges of the socially and culturally constructed gender roles with the aim of “male daughters” and “female husbands” becoming sons and husbands to wives for procreation and continuity of the family’s lineage. Through Gender Studies and Gender and Power theory, this study examines the reasons and benefits of such practices, the risks the practices expose women to, as well as the sociocultural implications of the practice to the Igbo worldview.