Abuses of Women in Inheritance Across Cultures： An Exploratory Study of Its Prevalence and Religious Panacea

The patriarchal nature of African society generally lays emphasis on the superiority of men over women in every sphere of life. When a woman dies, in most African societies, her legacy is usually inherited by the husband, children, and her family. But if a man dies, the widow, usually experiences false accusations of killing her husband to deny her share of her husband＇s properties. This paper examines how the dynamics of cultural practices in Nigeria promotes abuse of inheritance rights of women and discusses the possibilities of using Islamic inheritance rules as a divine solution to the abuse of inheritance rights of women. The research questions as follows： what is the nature of women＇s rights to father＇s estate？ What is the nature of widow＇s right to the husband＇s estate？ What is your perception about the Islamic law of inheritance？ The data for this study were collected using questionnaire and simple percentage was used for the analysis. In this respect, a questionnaire was administered to 220 women who were purposely selected from the three major tribes in Lagos state, Nigeria. The result showed that various cultures in Nigeria favour male child, grant male higher rights to land and other properties and promote abuse of inheritance rights against women.

Risk Factors with Intimate Partner Violence among Women Seeking Emergency Care

Background: Identifying women at risk for violence caused by intimate partner violence is difficult in connection with visits at emergency department. Aims and objectives: The aim of this study was to explore and describe risk factors of IPV reported by women in connection with seeking emergency care, Design: This study is part of a larger study using an explorative and comparative design. Method: Based upon data from a questionnaire and some demographic data, 82 women who reported to have experienced intimate partner violence answered the Danger Assessment Scale. Results: The results showed that the violence escalated in frequency and severity when a weapon such as a knife or gun was used to harm the women. When the abuser used narcotics and threatened the woman with a weapon, the risk of being injured increased. The odds for being threatened to death when the abuser was reported to use narcotics and illegal drugs was about thirteen times higher compared to the case when the abuser was not using narcotics. Other life threatening factors were discovered such as the man’s capability of killing the woman. Conclusion: By using a questionnaire about the violence, healthcare personnel can identify women who are at risk of being severely injured or killed. By identifying these women, one can take action to provide for their safety. Relevance to Clinical Practice: Using the Danger Assessment instrument can facilitate health care personnel’s ability at emergency departments to identify women at risk for lethal violence.