Nigeria women rights

WORK

Women still have a higher unemployment rate than men. Those employed
are concentrated in the informal sectors like agriculture, petty trading and
services. Home-making is still not recognized or compensated.

STUDY

Nigeria continues to have one of the highest levels of maternal mortality

Access to education is still low, especially in the northern parts of the

country where withdrawal of girls for the purposes of marriage or for care
giving is still practiced

VOTE

Political participation of women in Nigeria remains one of the lowest in the

world.

] Womens participation in government is still below the 35 per cent

stipulated in the gender policy.

MARRIAGE

28% of women between 15 and 29 are married, divorced or widow.

Girls are often married between the ages of 9-14. The occurrence of child
marriage is common.

A woman's postion in society changes vastly once they marry since she
becomes a possession, with relatively no rights in her husband's family. In
fact, the husband's mother and sisters have much more of an influence over
him than his own wife.

EQUALITY IN MARRIAGE

The Nigerian system of inheritance reflects the lack of male responsibility to

his wife and children. If a husband dies, the woman usually receives
nothing, although the law entitles her to a share. If she has no children, the
treatment is worse. Since property can only pass between the same sexes,
women can never inherit from their fathers.

Within marriage, women have an obligation to have children. Traditionally,

society blames the woman for a marriage without children. Society not only
condemns women who cannot have children, but unmarried and divorced
women as well.

DIVORCE

Three forms of marriages are recognized in Nigeria

Customary,

Islamic

Legislative

Women married under customary and Islamic law has not yet been affected
by the protocol. A woman married under customary law is entitled to be
provided with a home by her husband as long as the marriage lasts. She is
also entitled to use her husbands property, but cannot dispose of it as her
own. Upon divorce, a woman married under customary law has no claim over
a house jointly owned by her husband. However in the case of women
married under law, where she is able to produce documents showing she
made a contribution to the property, she is entitled to the part of the
property commensurate to her contribution.

MAPUTO PROTOCOL

The Protocol to the African Charter on Human Rights and Peoples' Rights

First women's rights legal framework for the protection of women rights in
Africa.

Nigeria joined in 2004