page_title: Women in Nigeria
section_title: Southern Nigeria
hierarchical_section_title: Women in Nigeria / Regional differences / Southern Nigeria
caption_attribution_description: English: Robert Bluestein traveled to West Africa on a Humanitarian Mission and captured these images in infrared.
context_page_description: Women's social role in Nigeria differs according to religious, cultural and geographic factors. Women's role is primarily understood as mothers, sisters, daughters and wives. Additionally, women's roles are in accordance with ethnic differences and religious background, with women in Northern Nigeria being more likely to be secluded in the home, than women in Southern Nigeria, who participate more in public life. Modern challenges for the women of Nigeria include child marriage and female genital mutilation.
context_section_description: In the south, women traditionally had economically important positions in interregional trade and the markets, worked on farms as major labour sources, and had influential positions in traditional systems of local organization. The south, like the north, had been polygynous; in 1990 it still was for many households, including those professing Christianity.
  Women in the south, had received Western-style education since the nineteenth century, so they occupied positions in the professions and to some extent in politics. In addition, women headed households, something not seriously considered in Nigeria's development plans. Such households were more numerous in the south, but they were on the rise everywhere.
caption: A Nigerian woman balancing market goods on her head
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