Women, especially those in
the rural areas, continually experience harmful cultural and religious
practices that tend to present them as sub-humans. Amongst these are the
dehumanizing widowhood practices in certain sections of the Nigerian society
where widows are required to mourn their late husband for up to twelve months.
During the mourning period,
the woman’s hairs are shaved, the nails are cut and she is taken to nearby
stream and given shabby bath as a demonstration to her that her crown has been
stripped. These inhuman rites are enforced on the widow in spite of her health
condition. They sleep and eat alone (not even with their own children), eat
only food prepared by fellow widows, and are compelled to take early morning
bath with cold water irrespective of the weather conditions. They are also
compelled to stay indoors, restrained from public gatherings and restrained
from sitting on the same chair with other women whose husbands are still alive.
In some traditions, the widows and their children are denied their
rights to inheritance and access to their family wealth which is instead shared
amongst the relatives of the late husband, thereby exposing the widow and her
children to rejection, loneliness, emotional trauma and economic hardship.