AN APPRAISAL OF SOME CULTURAL PRACTICES AGAINST WOMEN IN THE SOUTHEAST OF NIGERIA

Abstract

Culture is a people's way of life. It is the totality of their consistent life patterns, measured over some time, and which defines them as particular people. Culture embodies the essential features that characterize a group of people. As well, it plays a significant role in society. At the same time, not every aspect of a people's culture is beneficial. Some cultural practices challenge the corporate existence of the members of society. Some of such cultural practices either marginalize one group against the others or retard the wheel of societal progress in general. However, this paper focuses on one of such cultural practices, particularly those that contravene the rights of women in Southeast of Nigeria, namely: marriage between two women, marriage on behalf of a deceased, female circumcision, unhealthy widowhood practices, et cetera. With analytic and metaphysical approaches, this paper undertakes a legal and philosophical appraisal of these harmful cultural practices. Resultantly, it maintains that every good cultural practice should promote the fundamental human rights of all the members of a given society, consider each member as an end in himself/herself, and subsequently enhance the psycho-social and moral equilibrium of the beneficiaries. Besides, this paper recommends the use of the repugnancy test as a criterion for ascertaining the validity of any cultural practice. Further, it recommends the use of responsible media reportage of these harmful cultural practices through priming, framing, agenda-setting, and cultural cultivation.