Womens Economic Rights> BILL AGAINST HARSH WIDOWHOOD RITES

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Dear Networkers,

EDO ASSEMBLY LAUDED OVER WOMEN-FRIENDLY BILLS
REPORTED BY TESLIM OYEKANMI, BENIN

The Edo State House of Assembly has been commended for its gender sensitive 
style.
The commendation was given on Tuesday, in Benin, by the Roots and Fruits Women 
Farmers Society of Nigeria (RUFARM).
The group, in a statement by its Project Co-ordinator, Mrs. Nogi Imoukhuede, a 
copy of which was made available to the Punch, commended the House of Assembly 
for being the first parliament in Nigeria to pass bills prohibiting harsh 
widowhood rite and female genital mutilation.
The women's rights group implored the National Assembly to pass the United 
Nations Convention on the elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against 
Women (CEDAW,1979) "to achieve gender equality".
the group said it sent a petition signed by people from 32 countries, to the 
Presidency, Human Rights Commission, Abuja, the Ministry of Women Affairs and 
the National Assembly in furtherance of its campaigns against persecution of 
women.
It listed such persecution as violence in the home, sexual harassment at school 
and work; rap and defilement, sexual exploitation, punitive widowhood rite, 
harmful traditional practices, forced childhood marriages, sexual violence in 
conflict situations and discrimination against girl-child.
It condemned the death sentence, by stoning, passed by the Upper Sharia Court, 
Gwadabawa, Sokoto State, on Safiya Hussein Tungar-Tudu, over allegation of 
adultery.
The group stated that that aspect of Sharia law is discriminatory and against 
the natural course of justice.
It thus condemned the decision of the court to set free the man who allegedly 
impregnated Safiya, "it takes two to tango" it said.
The group promised to contact other women's rights bodies and non-governmental 
organisations, in ensuring that Safiya and other from discriminatory laws in 
Nigeria.

published on Punch of 28th November, 2001



BENIN CHIEF CONDEMNS ASSEMBLY OVER WIDOWS' BILL

A Benin Chief, Obaloza of Benin Kingdom, Chief Jackson Amure, on Wednesday, 
condemned the passage of the bill on maltreatment of widows by the State House 
of Assembly, saying it will lead to crisis, if eventually signed into law by 
the executive.
This condemnation was contained in a statement, made available to the Punch, in 
Benin on Wednesday.
The bill sponsored by the House Committee Chairman on Women Affairs, Mrs. Eshoe 
Jacobs seeks among other things to ban the age-long practice of making a widow 
drink the water used in washing the corpse of her dead husband or eat a 
particular soup from a special plate with the left hand.
Amure, a member of the Benin Traditional Council (BIC) while condemning the 
passage of the bill affected the Benin cultural values, adding the practice had 
been with people from ancient times.
He berated the legislators for not consulting the people, adding that making a 
widow to swear at the forehead of her deceased husband is allowed in order to 
prove the innocence of the widow as not being the cause of the death of the 
deceased"
While advocating a strict adherence to African cultural values, Amure stated 
that "we should remember that we can never be more white than the Englishman.  
If you tell a whiteman that it is possible to programme death into somebody's 
life by cutting his hair or taking sand from his footprint, the whiteman would 
tell you that it is not possible.
But we black know that this is very possible.
But we black know that this very possible.  The type of diabolical and 
spiritual wickedness practiced here is quite different from what obtains in the 
whiteman's world", he said.
He stated that the idea of a widow swearing at the forehead of her deceased 
husband was evolved to serve as a check on the diabolical wickedness of some 
women.
He added that the practice guaranteed the protection of the man (the husband), 
while alive "and it serves as a deterrent to the woman or any of the spouses 
that is diabolically inclined.  She knows what she will go through, should the 
partner dies".
While urging the Governor of the State Chief Lucky Igbinedion to be circumspect 
in signing the bill into law, the Benin Chief warned that "the bill, if signed 
into law by the governor would cause more confusion than it is made to solve".
He said that any woman who hid under the new bill to defy the family of her 
late husband would have herself and her children rejected and denied 
recognition within the milieu of the Bini tradition.

published on punch of 29th November, 2001
by Teslim Oyankanmi, Benin
WHAT IS WIDOWHOOD RITES?
PUNITIVE WIDOWHOOD RITES
The plight of the widows in Edo State is very pathetic.  A widow in Edo State 
is condemned to a life of rejection, trauma, deprivation and poverty.  The 
practices vary from area to area, however, there are two broad patterns of 
practice in Edo South and Edo North.  Edo South is inhabited mainly by the 
Binis and Ishans.
When a man dies in Edo South, the wife is usually suspected to have a hand in 
his death, no matter how old he man may be.
The practice is usually for the women to be confined to her room and the man's 
family will be invited and informed.  Upon arrival of the family, there is 
severe mourning and then accusations and counter accusations.
The interrogation and inquisition then begins.  This generally has put the 
women as an accused before her accusers.
In order to prove her innocence the woman is desperate to do any thing demanded 
of her in the name of tradition.
Her husband's spirit is usually invoked and she is made to swear before him. In 
the purely traditional families, the corpse is washed and she is made to drink 
from it.  When the burial proper begins she is made to sit on tree branches, 
her hair is shaven and she does not bathe during the seven days of the burial 
ceremonies.  She is served food on a broken clay pot which remains unwashed 
throughout the period, she is also made to eat with her left hand.  The rites 
are fraught with so much danger and hostility that the widow usually has her 
family members guarding her throughout.  On the last day of mourning, after 
some rituals, she is made to bathe in the dead of night.  This is usually the 
most dangerous as there have been occasions when the widow has been physically 
attacked by the husband's family members.  She is usually protected by men from 
her own family.
If the husband's family is Christian, the widow may be spared the ordeal but 
usually there will be non-Christians among them who will insist that some 
aspect of the tradition be carried out. By the end of the ordeal the widow is 
so traumatised that the cordial relationship which previously existed between 
families is terminated.  After the rites, if the man was polygamous or if the 
widow was the only wife, but did not bear him a son, she is asked to leave her 
matrimonial home.  There are known instances of women who have been driven out 
of their matrimonial home after 45 years of marriage.
The widow has no right of inheritances.  If the widow is lucky to have older 
children, the children begin to look after their mother.  Where the widow is 
young she is pushed into penury, because the family begin to divest her of all 
her husband'' property.  If the widow was a full-time housewife, the sudden 
loss of status and the traumatic experience has been known to drive some into 
depression.  The children are also not catered for and she is left to fend for 
them.
In Edo North, the widowhood rites are similar but also the women become 
inherited by the deceased's  brother.  It is very common in Edo North for a 
woman to bear children for two brothers.
There is need for sustained advocacy and mass enlightenment in Edo State.  We 
should uphold the aspects of our culture that enhance our dignity and abolish 
laws that are repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience.  It has 
been well established that culture is dynamic.
The 1999 Constitution enshrines the fundamental Human Rights of the Nigerian 
city Section 34 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 
upholds the right to human dignity.  We are saying that Female Genital 
Mutilation and Harsh Widowhood Rites derogates from the Nigerian Constitution, 
such customs are therefore illegal and unconstitutional.
Women's Rights Watch commends the Enugu State House of Assembly for being the 
first State to prohibit Punitive Widowhood rites.