WOMEN’S INHERITANCE RIGHTS INLIBYA’S SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SYSTEM
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22452/Keywords:
Libya, Women, Inheritance, Customary Norms, Socio-legalAbstract
This study investigates how women’s inheritance rights are recognized, negotiated, and implemented within Libya’s social and cultural system. Although women’s entitlement to inheritance is normatively established, women’s effective access to inherited assets often depends on family-based decision-making, customary expectations, and local enforcement realities. Using a qualitative descriptive design, the study conducted semi-structured interviews and analyzed the data through thematic analysis to identify recurring mechanisms shaping inheritance outcomes. The findings show a persistent rights practice gap in which inheritance is frequently treated as a negotiable family matter rather than an enforceable entitlement. Women’s access is commonly constrained through informal gatekeeping, delayed distribution, pressure to waive shares, and substitution arrangements that preserve land and housing within patrilineal lines. These practices impose reputational and relational costs on women who assert their claims and can convert formal entitlement into socially risky behaviour. The study further demonstrates that restricted inheritance access has consequences beyond immediate financial loss, including reduced housing security, heightened economic dependency, and bounded participation in social, cultural, and civic life. The study concludes that improving women's inheritance outcomes requires an integrated approach that strengthens transparent settlement procedures, safeguards against coerced waiver, and enhances rights-consistent dispute pathways while addressing the socio-cultural narratives that normalize restriction.
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