Abstract
Gender inequality has been at the top burner of many discourses and activism for many decades. The United Nations and feminist theorists have done much in proffering theories, legislations and other solutions towards eliminating this cankerworm which is a global issue. Nevertheless, gender inequality still persists with impunity in Nigeria. Many of the feminist theorists rightly saw marriage as the bane of gender inequality, but they proffered wrong solutions towards eliminating it. This article therefore, using the descriptive and analytic methods of legal research, aims to expound how the erroneous understanding and interpretations of religious laws, rules and regulations in a marriage relationship where religion declares a husband as head over his wife- is the bane of gender inequality, which has also skewed our secular laws in favour of men. This article also shows that any sustainable success towards eliminating gender inequality will involve the correction and re-orientation of the mindsets of men and women as to the context and application of the headship of a man in marriage, as legislations alone cannot guarantee the elimination of discrimination and dismissiveness of women towards gender equality.
