- A useful ritual due to grow into a sustainable policy
Widows and female divorcees received positive acknowledgement in Kebbi State when over 100 of them received blessings as brides in a mass wedding at the palace of Emir of Argungu in Kebbi State. Many cities in the core north celebrate mass weddings for vulnerable women periodically. Kano State married about 2,000 such women and Zamfara State sponsored 100 widows and divorcees late last year. For the first time in the Southwest, Muslim clerics also organised a mass wedding in Ibadan at a ceremony conducted by Alhaji Akewugbagold, chairman of Oyo State Pilgrims Board.
The latest mass wedding in Kebbi was sponsored by the state government in collaboration with local governments. Apart from taking of wedding vows, each bride received N20,000 as dowry payment, gifts of household decorations, kitchen utensils, and pieces of furniture worth N150,000, to start her new marital life. Further, each of the brides received N30,000 towards starting a small-scale business.
Speaking at the event, Governor Abubakar Bagudu of Kebbi State advised the newly married women to respect the institution of marriage: “The importance of marriage cannot be over-emphasised as it will promote peace among the couples and will also enable them to get more blessings and God’s mercy,” while the Emir of Argungu explained the social side objective of the ceremony: “We are trying to provide women with stable homes, financial and social security.”
This modest empowerment of vulnerable women at ritual moments, common in several African Islamic societies, is commendable, especially as it plays a vital role in promoting family values. The social assistance for the brides addresses poverty among widowed and divorced women, reduces the problem of single parenting for such women; and hopefully combats some negative effects of sex and procreation out of wedlock, in a society already over-exposed to HIV infection. Undoubtedly, such intervention in the problems facing widows and divorcees can bring some hope back to women who may have lost hope of restoring their social dignity and self-esteem.
This beneficial social ritual needs to be institutionalised. Local governments’ departments of social welfare ought to be strengthened with a social research unit to track widows and divorcees that may require such services, not only for showcasing during ceremonies, but also to create a social policy framework for holistic approach to impoverishment of women that arises from death of spouses or divorce, rather than leaving systematic identification and response to needy women to whims of clerics and traditional rulers.
For example, 100 widows and divorcees may very well be a small percentage of women needing such social assistance at this time in Kebbi State, and institutionalisation of the mass wedding initiative can improve the process of selecting deserving women. Identification of women requiring social assistance can be enriched if widows and divorcees are properly documented, especially in local governments that are multi-religious.
Further, while the current programme of periodic assistance may respond substantially to some of the negative effects of divorce and widowhood, it needs to be enhanced by understanding of the social and cultural causes of rising rate of divorce in the North. A comprehensive research into causes of divorce can also assist the state to seek ways of reducing the number of women that experience divorce.
Any opportunity to empower vulnerable components of our society in an ethos devoid of equity and economic and social equality should not be missed, particularly when victims of such inequality are women and children. This life-affirming intervention via the mechanism of mass wedding deserves to be built into a formal social assistance policy of sub-national governments, especially local governments which are the closest to potential targets of such policy. Life in the country is already too tough for women in general; therefore, any effort to reduce the stress of widows and divorcees deserves sustainable support.
