MARRIAGE, SEPARATION, DIVORCE AND WOMEN’S PROPERTY RIGHTS

Credit - natural-justice.blogspot.com 

Although Article 7 of the Protocol to the Charter on Human and Peoples Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa provides for both parties of a marriage to enjoy equal rights within and after the marriage, in issues of custody and access to an equitable share of the joint property deriving from the marriage, this is not the case. Three forms of marriages are recognized in Nigeria – Customary, Islamic and Marriage under the Act. The reality of 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 subsists. She is also entitled to use her husband’s property but cannot dispose of it as her own. The right to be provided with a house by her husband terminates upon divorce. Upon divorce, a woman married under customary law has no claim over a house jointly owned by her husband. Her position is not helped by the
provisions of the Matrimonial Causes Act in respect of maintenance and settlement of property, which expressly excludes the application of its provisions to marriages under customary and Islamic law.
However in the case of women married under the Act, 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. Many women are denied custody and access to their children. Among those under Islamic law, child marriage is still prevalent. According to BAOBAB for Women’s Human Rights, ‘…girls are often married between the ages of 9-14.’ The occurrence of child marriage is common.

GRACE ADIKEMA-AJAEGBO

Grace Adikema-Ajaegbo is a Nigerian Lawyer who works with the Rivers State House of Assembly in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. She is also a volunteer with both International Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) and Women’s Economic and Social Empowerment Initiative (WESEI).

Source : thelawyerschronicle.com

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