'WHEN THE MAN DIES EVERYTHING DIES': The Effect of Inheritance Practices on the Livelihoods of Widows in Northern Ghana.

The extant literature on inheritance has largely focused on the success or failure of legislations in addressing the plight of widows. A gap in the discourse is the failure to investigate the experiences of widows and how their dis-inheritance affects their livelihoods. The purpose of this study was to find out how inheritance practices affect the livelihoods of widows in Northern Ghana. The study combined two conceptual frameworks to answer the research questions. The first concept which is patriarchy helped to understand the experiences of widows with regard to inheritance practices. The second research question on how inheritance practices affect the livelihoods of widows was answered by conceptualizing livelihood. This was done by situating the study within the livelihood framework of three development actors namely: DFID, CARE and UNDP which frameworks are all offshoots of Chambers and Conway’s definition of livelihood