Reclaiming Igbo Cultural Heritage: Leveraging Traditional Practices to Address Gender Inequality in Enugwu-Ukwu, Anambra State
Conference: ISA 22nd Annual International Conference (2025)
Presenter(s): Onyinyechi Priscilla C. Wariboko
Tags: 2025 Nigeria Port Harcourt University of Port Harcourt Onyinyechi Priscilla Wariboko
Abstract
While considerable progress has been made in the quest for gender parity in Igboland, some issues of concern have remained recalcitrant and traced to the assumed sacrosanctity of culture. Igbo women therefore, continue to face significant challenges, including domestic violence, limited access to economic opportunities, education and decision-making positions. Hence, using a qualitative research approach and insights drawn from Obioma Nnaemeka’s Nego-Feminism theory, this ethnographic study explores the potential of deploying traits of Igbo cultural heritage in addressing gender disproportion in contemporary Igbo societies, using Enugwu-Ukwu in Anambra State as a case study. Data is gathered through literal readings as well as, oral histories through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. This research argues that when certain aspects of Igbo culture are reclaimed and reinterpreted, rather than being a barrier to gender equality, can be leveraged to promote women's empowerment and challenge despicable patriarchal norms that foster and sustain gender disparity in contemporary Igbo societies. By examining historical cultural practices such as unparalleled honour for motherhood and maternal relations, religious traditions that recognize male and female deities as complementary, and social institutions such as “Ụmụada” and the influence they wield in Enugwu-Ukwu, this study identifies opportunities for cultural reorientation and transformation that prop gender equity. The findings of this study contribute to the development of culturally sensitive strategies for promoting gender equality, women's empowerment and social justice in Enugwu-ukwu and Igbo communities in general.
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