Episode3 Igbo Traditions: The Role Of Daughters That Has No Male Issue In A Family

It is no secret that the Igbo family and the African culture as a whole views the male child as the superior gender. The female child is the auxiliary gender. This is why a family with all male children is thought complete but not one with all female children.

A man who has the wherewithal can marry as many wives as possible and keep as many concubines as possible in order to get the cherished son. It is not frowned on by the society. As a matter of fact it is applauded and his relations go out of their way to look for girls who come from families known to birth mostly boys.

This is taken rather seriously. Even in this present age, most Igbo men will not marry a girl who has more female siblings than male. They believe it is genetic and such woman would birth more girls than boys when she eventually becomes a mother.

Now to the topic at hand, when after all said and done a man still manages to only have female children, the onus to perpetuate the family bloodline lies on the daughters. It becomes their duty to ensure that "ama nna ha agaghi emechi". She somehow has to bring forth sons for the family at the expense of her own happiness. This is done in two ways:

1. The Father marries his daughter:
This is not as incestuous as it sounds. When a man has so many daughters but no son, he pays the bride price of one of them. Typically the Ada; the first daughter. That is one of the reasons the Igbos revere the Adas. They have a lot of responsibilities. So the Ada becomes nna ga anu and does not get to marry.

This is where the phrase and slur nna ga anu was coined from. (It means 'one who would be married by her father' and is mostly used as a slur to belittle or shame spinsters). She stays back home and tries to get preg**nant and give birth. In this scenario, the more illegitimate children, the better.

As usual, she is advised to have different men do the work so the identity of the father would not be known to avoid future child custody battles if she should have a son. The son or sons are not considered illegitimate. They are regarded as the offspring of the father and are accorded full respect and inheritance to their father's property.

The sons have a place in the Umunna and are qualified for titleship and any treatment reserved for a full fledged son of the soil unlike any other illegitimate child. The daughter is treated with respect because she has wiped the shame from her mother and prevented the closure of her father's bloodline.

Note that through all this the father has no $×xual relationship with the daughter. He paid her bride price in order to:

A. Legitimize her offspring otherwise they would be bastards and as such are culturally useless as they cannot inherit the father's property or become a member of Umunna or become a titled chief.

B. Also it is an attempt to tie her down and prevent her from ever getting married. You cannot marry a lady whose bride price has already been paid for. Quite selfish but since when has tradition being fair to women?

C. The bride price is also paid in order to ensure that the biological father(s) of the kids do not come to claim them. The male child is a highly cherished commodity in the Igbo culture and chances are that the biological father may decide to run back to claim the sons if they have difficulty in having theirs in the future.

2. 'Manization' of one of the daughters. (Nhachi or Mmachi).
This method is the one mostly used in my part and it is still practised in my village till today. One of the daughters of the man is traditionally made a man hence the term "manization" for lack of a better word.

Some traditional rituals are performed and some dues paid in order to make the woman a man. A long list is brought by the Umunna not much different from the marital list. To be a man is not easy. Literally.

After the rituals which last for some time, the woman becomes a man. She would never marry rather stay back home and procreate for her father. Now in my village, the woman is accorded the full rights of a man. She can do almost everything a man can. She is included in the village Umunna meeting.

She participates in the sharing of the communal lands and property. In essence, she is a man in a woman's body. She is honoured and revered as you would a man. It was mandatory before for a woman whose father has no male issue to stay back and marry. Nowadays it is not anymore but it still happens.

It stems from the unwillingness of the woman to sit back and watch her family 'close'. Some women are uncomfortable with the rituals involved in making one a man because it contradicts their Christian faith and the reality of never getting married doesn't sit well with them.

So they make a compromise; Have a son at home, then marry later. That way, they can get to eat their cake and have it. So that's the role of women in ensuring that their bloodline continues. Any woman who goes on to marry when she has no brother to carry on the family line is shamed and ridiculed in most Igbo communities. It is regarded as the height of selfishness and self-hate.