When death strikes the female spouse in Igbo land: A peep at the other side of the coin

Abstract

Widowhood is a state of being a widow or widower. However, in application as found to be in Igbo land, and of course, in many other areas world over, it is restricted to the state of being a widow. In fact, in the Igbo language, while there is an expression with the reference of ‘widow’ nwaanyisimkpe, there is none for ‘widower’. Here, the account of the restriction if adequately provided. No wonder then, there exist advocacy/support groups, some government sponsored and other humanitarian sponsored agencies, which put in time and material resources to oppose harmful widowhood practices that affect widows. None of these or similar facilities is available for widowers. This discourse draws attention to the fact that what is good for the goose is good for the gander. A widow or a widower is in the pain of loss of ideally a beloved companion. Moreover, the way negative widowhood practices that affect widows exist in Igbo land is much the same way those that affect widowers exist. Unfortunately, such practices are under cover and not in any way emphasized. For this reason, intervention programmes for widows exist but none for widowers. Here, some of the negative widowhood practices that affect widowers have been pointed out and by reference to them, it is made clear that widowers deserve intervention programmes to succour them and save them from an early grave or more pain arising from self-decision that at the long run exacerbates their pain instead of ameliorating it.