“Woman marriages” in Nigeria
This stenograph from 1900 shows Nigerians in the Dahomey region, one of the areas where so-called “woman marriage” was practiced. Source: Library of Congress
Today, lesbianism in Nigeria can lead to prison or even the death penalty. Less than a hundred years ago, however, some data were collected in Nigeria (and across other parts of Africa) which revealed that there were indeed “marriages” between women. Scholar Hleziphi Naomie Nyanungo says that it’s important to note that “woman marriage” here means same sex marriage: “It is not lesbian marriage because there is typically no sexual attraction and/or involvement between female husbands and their wives.”
Nyanungo goes on to say that these marriages were arranged to ensure that women could exercise social influence. “Traditionally, woman marriage has served as an avenue through which women exercise social influence and patronage in societies where inheritance and succession pass through the male line,” Nyanungo wrote. “In such societies, woman marriage makes it possible for women to gain social status as the head of the household.”
In these marriages, wealthy women would marry young girls, allowing their male lovers and other men to have relations with the young girls, sometimes in exchange for gifts. The purpose of inviting the male lovers into the equation was to produce children, which the two women would raise as their own.
