Husband is a Priority: Gender Roles, Patriarchy and the Naming of Female Children in Nigeria

Abstract

In onomastic practices of some traditional societies in Nigeria, stereotyped gender roles and patriarchy are deliberately perpetuated in the naming of female children, thus using naming traditions as weapons against girl-children. In these cultures, names are bestowed on female children to align with existing sexist norms and gender ideology in which the namer is dominant and the named is subservient. This article explores, from an ethnographic qualitative approach, the politics of this naming regime, and highlights the centrality of naming in the social construction of gender in two cultural traditions in Nigeria: Bette (South-east), and Owe (North-central), which entrench inequality and illuminate power and dominance against the girl-child. It considers the implications of this regime of names on the girl-child from the perspective of “doing gender” (West and Zimmermann in Gender Soc 1:125–151, 1987), which simultaneously recreates and reinforces the cultural meaning of gender and the systems of power and oppression on which it rests. I demonstrate how personal names are overtly used to enact conformism and/or resistance to patriarchy and the results, based on linguistic evidence, reveal that participants who conform to traditional gender norms or ideologies tended to reify inequality and oppressive gender regime through the choice of their names. Participants who resisted normative conception of gender opened up space for agency and autonomy, and thus expanded the frontiers of their gender expression.

Adverse childhood experiences, emotional distress and dissatisfaction with motherhood among first-time mothers: Mediations and child differences

“…A high priority is given to continuing a family lineage through male children in Nigeria (Church et al, 2023 ). Women have traditionally been assigned the role of household and caregiving (Ibrahim et al, 2023 ), while men have traditionally been assigned the role of breadwinner (Mensah, 2023 ). Consequently, it is believed that having a male child will ensure the family’s economic stability and support, especially if the male child is expected to care for their aging parents and sustain family lineage.…”

Dyadic Relationship Komunikasi Keluarga pada Pernikahan Masyarakat Patriarki

“…Doktrin bahwa Laki-laki diberi tanggung jawab secara fisik, psikis bahkan materi untuk memikul beban kehidupan seorang perempuan (Gachago, Clowes, & Condy, 2018). Sehingga, biasanya akan memunculkan perasaan atau pola pikir bahwa laki-laki berhak mengatur perempuan dalam berbagai aspek (Mensah, 2023). Karena laki-laki merasa ditekan oleh konstruksi masyarakat, jadi seakan dirinya yang berkewajiban mengarahkan perempuan.…”

‘Refuse Dump, Hurry Up!’: A Cognitive Onomastic and Cultural Metaphor Perspective of Nzema Death-Prevention Names

“…African names portray African identity and value systems (Obeng 1998;Batoma 2009;Mensah and Offong 2013;Sekyi-Baidoo 2019;Mensah 2022;Viriri and Ndimande-Hlongwa 2023, among others). As Ramaeba (2019, p. 2) points out, a personal name is an individual's badge of identity in all cultures of the world although the qualities and concepts of the name could vary.…”