Dr Eleanor Nwadinobi horrified members with her description of the rites inflicted upon widows in her country, of which details are outlined in the Minutes of our meeting.  Dr Nwadinobi is part Nigerian and part Jamaican, born and educated in Britain and a OP.  She is President of the Widows Development Association (Willa) and President-elect of the Medical Women's Association of Nigeria.  

Her talk described the violence against a group of women – widows – that occurs in South-east Nigeria.  Her organisation, Willa, was formed to look after their welfare.  She explained that a young girl has no status until she is married and as soon as her husband dies she loses status: she is made to sit on the floor or on a straw mat to show that she is now 'dethroned'.  When her husband dies she has no right to look nice, must wear drab clothing and not bathe.  An unmarried girl has no succession rights to her father's property.  If she is married her father's property eventually goes to her husband.  Widows have no succession rights to their husband's property because they are chattels to be inherited along with land and household property by the deceased husband's brother.  A childless widow is often asked to leave the home.  A rural, uneducated woman who cannot earn money and be economically independent cannot look after her children, which leads to real suffering.