The Institution of Levirate[ ]mitted through the female line; a daughter’s son may inherit from his
grandfather when the grandfather had no sons. However, in most situa-
tions, women do not inherit property in patrilineal, patrilocal cultures,
although they may be gifted with property upon marriage. Levirate may
be closely l i n ked to i n her ita nce, w it h t he su r v iv i ng brot hers “i n her it i ng”
the widow with her husband’s property or being expected to provide for
the widow because she has no rights to her husband’s estate.
Levirate should be understood in the context of these factors. In soci-
et ies w it h t he feat u res just descr ibed, a woma n is t ra nsfer red to her hus-
ba nd’s fa m i ly at t he t i me of ma r r iage. She l ives a mong her husba nd’s k i n
a nd is u nder t he cont rol of h is fa m i ly. She is ex pected to bea r ch i ld ren for
the clan; in some cases, only by doing so does she formally become part
of her husband’s family. The death of a woman’s husband leaves her role
i n h is fa m i ly somewhat u nclea r, especia l ly i f she ha s not bor ne ch i ld ren.
Levirate allows the family to “reassign” the widow, whose bride-wealth
has often been paid by the family, to another man within the family.
In some cases, this provides an unmarried man with a partner without
necessitating the payment of bride-wealth. It also allows the deceased’s
family to retain the widow as the caregiver of her young children or, in
societies in which widows could return to their natal families with their
children, to retain the children of the family’s lineage.
There are those who claim that levirate reflects the values of patriar-
chal cultures that regard women more as chattel than as persons. Fol-
lowing this approach, one can argue that
levirate has its raison d’être in the view that a wife is the exclusive
property of the [husband’s] family by virtue of the dowry or the
brideprice that was paid for her. Hence the [husband’s] family
is entitled to inherit her along with the other possessions of her
deceased husband.^18While this view does characterize societies that practice widow-inheri-
tance and some that practice levirate, it cannot be attributed to all cul-
tures that employ levirate.^19 In some societies, levirate is optional rather
than mandatory, and the widow has the opportunity to enter or reject a
levirate union. In some cases, the husband’s family may woo the widow,
because t hey w ish to retain her as t heir daughter-in-law; she is regarded
as a valuable member of the extended family.^20 At the same time, soci-