Cultural practises contributing to gender-based violence (GBV) in Igbo land: An exploration of Buchi Emecheta's The Bride Price.

Abstract

This paper examines how embedded cultural norms generate power imbalances and sustain 
gender-based violence (GBV) against Igbo women and girls. Despite governmental efforts to curb 
violence in Nigeria, implementation gaps persist, particularly within Igbo communities. The study 
attributes this failure partly to the state’s reluctance to confront harmful cultural practices, notably 
marriage customs such as bride price, which reinforce feminine commodification. Focusing on 
Buchi Emecheta’s The Bride Price (1976), the paper analyses how patriarchal ideology and 
cultural expectations intersect to normalise violence. Through context-based character analysis, it 
explores the experiences of Aku-nna and Ma Blackie as women navigating culturally sanctioned 
oppression. Anchored in Ogunyemi’s African womanist framework, the study demonstrates how 
social norms restrict female agency, limit educational and economic opportunities, and legitimise 
physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. It argues that African women’s writing reclaims literary 
space as resistance, exposing the psychological and social consequences of GBV while informing 
gender advocacy and social transformation in Igbo society.