Divorce among the Yoruba

Abstract

Divorce rates among the northern Yoruba are not only higher than one might expect in patrilineal societies, but little different from those of the southern Yoruba, with cognatic descent groups. This initial observation challenges the hypothesis that divorce rates are directly correlated with the line of descent. Data on over 300 divorces were collected in four Yoruba towns—two with agnatic and two with cognatic descent groups. The divorces were classed by the length of the terminated marriage and its fertility, and the distribution of the types of divorce were then compared in the four towns. The results suggest that the rate of divorce is primarily correlated with the degree to which a woman is alienated by marriage from her own descent group. But a number of secondary factors seem to be important, and these may cumulatively raise or reduce the divorce rate to a marked degree.

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