Family Life among the Yoruba, in Lagos, Nigeria

The head of the family is usually the most senior male member, but in families where particular emphasis is laid upon the position of the first-born, the head of the family may be a first-born woman. The younger married couples form a separate, usually monogamous, household, together with their children, and in most cases, including one or more dependent siblings or young relatives of either the husband or wife. The Yoruba stress on marriage being primarily for the procreation of children means that a girl becomes a wife in order to become a mother, and she sees herself essentially as a future mother. Among some Yoruba in Lagos, the ceremonies and expenditure attendant on traditional marriages are no longer being observed, but the formal expression of family consent is usually retained. Wives of some men may also be left, in Lagos, to fend for themselves and their children, when their husbands are sent on transfer to other parts of Nigeria.