Patriarchy, Access to Resources, And the Feminization of Poverty Among the Igala People of Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract Book of the 10th International Conference on Advanced Research in Social Sciences

Year: 2026

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Patriarchy, Access to Resources, And the Feminization of Poverty Among the Igala People of Kogi State, Nigeria

Dr. Sophia Ojochogwu Omale

ABSTRACT:

The thesis of this paper is to interrogates the complex connection between patriarchy and the feminization of poverty among the Igala people of Kogi State, Nigeria. Using a feminist theoretical position and drawing from empirical data generated from field data, the study was able to show through analytical means how the traditional gender norms held by the Igala people excluded women from benefitting from inheritance right, land ownership, and economic decision processes. The study through qualitative interview community leaders and sixty Igala women, incorporating customary practices into our analysis, the study was able to establish that patriarchy create and engendered gendered poverty traps. The findings of this study showed the inability of women to own title to land which in turn limit their access capital since land is one of the major collaterals for borrowing in rural communities. The predicament of women is further deepened by the burden of unpaid care work that women are traditionally saddled with. The major contribution of this study to the body of knowledge especially in gendered poverty in African is in the contextualization of the global feminist theory within the specific cultural and socioeconomic landscape of the Igala. The paper was able to suggest policy positions that can help dismantle the patriarchal huddles compounding the gender poverty and retarding women’s economic empowerment.

Keywords: Patriarchy, Feminization of Poverty, Igala People, Gender Inequality, Resource Access, Women's Economic Rights