Women’s land rights and intra-household bargaining power: perception and practice of inheritance in
Nigeria.
The proposed research paper explorestheexisting knowledge, experience and perceptions toward
women’s inheritance rights amongdifferent groups of the society, examines their interaction,
andidentifies factors that are associated with using two unique gender-disaggregated datasets from two
different parts of Nigeria.
The existing literature show that women’s inheritance rights in general and women’sland inheritance
rights in particular are limited whether as a spouse, widow or a daughter as compared to men’s
inheritance rights as a widower or a son. This limitation on women’s land inheritance right would be a
formidable challenge in meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as rights are ends of MDGs
by themselves and means to achieve all other goals. The existing gender imbalance in inheritance rights
has multifaceted implications that touch almost everything in the whole spectrum of social, political,
and economic arenas. Land inheritance rights directly affect women access to and control of productive
resources.Specially, in a predominantly agrarian society - whereland is the primary good for the majority
of the population and women shoulder the bulk of the agricultural activities- the issue of land
inheritance would significantly affect agricultural outcomes in many ways. In addition, in society where
women, as a mother, bear the ultimate responsibility of taking care of children, inheritance would have
a direct impact on the welfare of the children and the future generation.
The gender imbalance of inheritance rights emanate from culture, tradition and laws. However, this
doesn’t mean that all cultures, traditions and laws put the same extent of limitations on women’s
inheritance. Inheritance practices are more complex than many think. Inheritance practices are not
undertaken following a clearly defined way. They are carried out in a highly interpersonal manner.
Moreover, and more importantly, although in a given community inheritance practices are generally
dictated by the existing culture and norms in that community , individuals’ knowledge, experience and
perceptions of the existing culture, norms, and laws play a significant role in determining the actual
outcomes. Understanding individuals’ knowledge, experience and perceptions and their interaction and
the factors associated with them would have a paramount importance in selecting the right type of
policy interventions, and for their effectiveness as well.
If we want to resolve the problem of inheritance imbalance, we need to go beyond the mere
introduction of “progressive” laws. We need to understand the knowledge, experience and perceptions
of the members of the society towards the existing culture, norms, and laws that pertain to inheritance
practices.We need to understand the existing difference inknowledge, experience and perceptions
between different genders, locations (rural vs urban), and legal systems (sharia, customary, and
statutory).
But, there are no comprehensive quantitative studies that examined inheritance in such degree of
disaggregation. Most of the existing quantitative literatures don’t capture the intra-household
differences and intergenerational dynamics that that varies across different locations, legal systems and
cultural settings.
Research Questions
Using a the socio-economic baseline data of 4000 households from South-West Nigeria, this study
strives to assess determinants of household decisions about land transfers via inheritance, intergenerational dynamics of inheritance rights and its implication on gender-differentiated intrahousehold decision making and bargaining power . More specifically, the study tries to answer ranges of
inheritance related questions including the following:
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Are women’s and men’s perceptions/stand/knowledge same with regard to women’s
inheritance right?
Is there any difference between urban and rural areas in perceptions/stand/knowledge toward
women’s inheritance right?
Does a woman have an inheritance right mean that she has a bundle of rights that includes
decision-making to mortgage, lease, sell and bequeath the property she inherited or going to
inherit?
Does the type of marriage that individuals subscribe to has an association with individuals’
perceptions/stand/knowledge toward women’s inheritance right?
Does the type of religion that individuals follow has an association with individuals’
perceptions/stand/knowledge toward women’s inheritance right?
Does source of land acquisition has an association with individuals’
perceptions/stand/knowledge toward women’s inheritance right?
Does mode of land acquisition has an association with individuals’
perceptions/stand/knowledge toward women’s inheritance right?
Does level of education has an association with individuals’ perceptions/stand/knowledge
toward women’s inheritance right?
Does the type of means of livelihood has an association with individuals’
perceptions/stand/knowledge toward women’s inheritance right?
Does individuals’ choice of ways of dispute settlement has an association with individuals’
perceptions/stand/knowledge toward women’s inheritance right?
Dose perceptions/stand/knowledge of individuals toward women’s inheritance has an
association with their need for Certificate of Occupancy, and their willingness-to-pay for that?
Does inheritance imbalance have some positive outcomes?
Data and Data Collection Methodology and the Context
Our inheritance study uses two gender-disaggregated datasets that are collected from both rural and
urban areas of two culturally different and representative states of Nigeria. These two datasets are
collected for the“Demand for Certificate of Occupancy for Land” study andfor the socio-economic
baseline study for land titling program. Thesurveys of both of these studies were undertaken as part of
apilot land titling reform in Nigeria.
The survey for a“Demand for Certificate of Occupancy for Land”study was undertaken both in Ondo
state–where the customary system is widely practice - and in Kano state -which is predominantlyMuslim
state. Data for this study come from 600 household heads and their spouses (i.e. in Kano and Ondo
states: 300 in Kano and 300 in Ondo States equally divided between rural and urban LGAs) that are
being sampled based on the consideration of importantcharacteristics. As elicited during the scoping
visits, the number of female household heads,proportion of migrants available, sources of livelihoods,
nature of settlement, among others, were considered in the selection of the villages and wards.
The socio-economic baseline survey was undertaken in the Ondo state and comprises nearly 4000
household heads and their spouses. The data was collected from both rural and urban areas in such a
way that it allows to employ Spatial Regression Discontinuity technique during the impact evaluation
phase of the pilot land titling reform.
Our study onwomen’s inheritance rightwould also take advantage of the existing uniquely complex
situation in Nigeria that would give us an ideal opportunity to understand the problem of women’s
inheritance right in different contexts. Nigeria generally has three different sources of laws: statutory
law, customary law and sharia law (Emery 2004). There are also indigenous systems of justice that are
outside of the formal court system. As part of the statutory law and with the objective of guaranteeing
equitable (and affordable) land rights, enhancing cheaper and easier access to land for both public and
private use, curbing land speculations, and empowering the government to ensure orderly development
of urban areas, Nigeria also introduced the Land Use Act (LUA) in 1978. In addition, the 1999
Constitution of Nigeria (i.e. the most recent constitution)- which is the supreme law of the land to
which all the laws must be subordinate- also establishes that women and men are equal and cannot be
treated inequitably under the law due to their gender. However, many argue that- and the consensus isthe LUA has had minimal impact upon the customary land tenancy system (Emery 2004). Land still
continues to changes hands in accordance to native law and customs of the people, which has not
promoted equality of access to land to men and women. When there are issues of compensation, the
head or leader of the family or community is the one with rights even according to the LUA. In these
cases, women’s rights are almost none existent because they have limited rights and participation in
customary land management institutions (Aluko and Amidu 2006). Allof these features would make the
study even more relevant as it strengthen the external validity of the study.