From Kuria to Nandi: 6 tribes that practiced woman-to-woman marriage

While the concept of marriage is often viewed through a heteronormative lens, African traditions reveal a more complex tapestry – one in which women have historically assumed the role of husbands.

Woman-to-woman marriage as practised by some African communities does not involve lesbian couples, neither is it designed for romance, but mostly for legacy.

Though little known to the world, woman-to-woman marriages have long existed in parts of Africa, including in at least six Kenyan and West African ethnic communities: the Kuria, Nandi, Kikuyu, Igbo, Frafra, and Dahomey.

These unions, deeply rooted in cultural logic and kinship preservation, allow women – often elders or those without male heirs – to marry other women for the purpose of securing children, property rights, and lineage continuity.

Across at least six African ethnic communities, woman-to-woman marriages have served as vital kinship institutions, empowering women and preserving family legacies.

1. Kuria (Kenya and Tanzania)

The Kuria ethnic group is a community that resides in south Kenya (in Nyanza region – Migori county in particular) and northern Tanzania.

Among the Kuria community, ‘nyumba ntobhu’ is a deeply rooted tradition that allows an older or childless woman to marry a younger woman.

The female husband pays the bride price and becomes the legal parent of the children her wife bears, typically fathered by a chosen male relative.

This union ensures the continuation of the woman’s lineage, grants her land rights, and elevates her status in the clan.

The practice also offers refuge for young women escaping forced or abusive marriages.

2. Nandi (Kenya)

The Nandi, a sub-group of the Kalenjin, also recognized woman-to-woman unions.

Woman-to-woman marriage was primarily practised with the motivation to preserve a family name, especially when a woman was widowed or childless.

By marrying a woman, the female husband ensured that any children born belonged to her lineage.

These unions were socially accepted and sometimes even celebrated, as they prevented the extinction of family lines and protected inheritance rights for women.

3. Kikuyu (Kenya)

Among the Kikuyu, woman-to-woman marriage was traditionally a tool for inheritance and lineage preservation.

A woman without sons or who had no children could marry another woman to bear children in her name.

The children are socially and legally hers, and she retains control over land and property.

This arrangement allowed Kikuyu women to maintain power in a highly patrilineal society and to assert their rights within the family structure.

Noted that while many Kenyan communities traditionally embraced patriarchal systems in the precolonial era, the Kikuyu community incorporated matriarchal elements into their social structure.

4. Igbo (Nigeria)

In southeastern Nigeria, the Igbo community has long practiced woman-to-woman marriage, particularly in cases where a man dies without male heirs.

A daughter may pay the bride price and marry a woman to bear children in her father’s name, thus preserving his lineage.

These arrangements are not romantic but contractual and spiritual, serving societal needs rather than individual desires.

Female husbands in Igbo culture often gain the same respect and responsibilities as male ones.

5. Frafra (Ghana)

The Frafra of northern Ghana use woman-to-woman marriage to bolster family labour and preserve wealth.

A wealthy woman might marry one or more wives either for herself or for her husband, especially if she is childless.

The children born are hers in legal and social terms, not the genitor’s.

These unions also serve economic purposes – offering labour and securing property within the woman’s lineage, underscoring the deep integration of gender, wealth, and kinship in Frafra culture.

6. Dahomey (Benin)

In the precolonial Dahomey Kingdom, now modern-day Benin, woman-to-woman marriage was common among royal and wealthy women.

These unions allowed elite women to expand their influence, manage land, and secure heirs.

A female husband could wield authority equal to that of male nobility.

These arrangements reflected not just familial strategy but political power, as women used them to assert autonomy in a rigidly patriarchal system.

Once embraced, now forgotten practice

Once a culturally significant institution in various African communities, woman-to-woman marriage has seen a steady decline, largely due to a confluence of colonial, religious, and legal pressures.

The arrival of colonial powers ushered in a wave of Western ideologies that disrupted traditional African ways of life.

Colonizers like the British, who ruled over Kenya and other African territories, imposed rigid gender norms that were foreign to indigenous communities.

Woman-to-woman marriages, long accepted and deeply embedded in customary practices, were misunderstood by the colonizers, who equated them with same-sex relationships.

Under the colonial gaze, these unions were seen not as functional kinship arrangements but as moral deviances to be stamped out.

This mischaracterization struck at the heart of a practice that had served specific social and economic roles – such as lineage continuation, property rights, and social alliance – among the communities that embraced it.

The rise of Christianity and Islam further contributed to the stigmatization.

As both religions gained influence across the continent, they often reinforced the idea of heterosexual unions as the only legitimate form of marriage, pushing woman-to-woman marriages further into the shadows.

In modern times, legal systems built on colonial frameworks have continued to overlook these traditional unions.

With no formal recognition, female husbands and their children face significant challenges, particularly in inheritance and property disputes, rendering them legally invisible.

Together, these forces – colonial disruption, religious transformation, and legal neglect – have led to the erosion of a once-respected practice that reflected the diversity and adaptability of African family systems.