There are basically systems of Inheritance, based on matrilineal and matrilineal families.

Land inheritance and ownership in customary sense is both patrilineal and matrilineal.

Laws of inheritance discriminate against indigenous women, naturalized women and male children particularly in matrilineal societies.

In the lineage system that exists in the country (patrilineal and matrilineal) the character of assumed gender is similar.

Concerning the matrilineal system, in case of death of a husband, the beneficiary becomes the first born nephew sister's son or the deceased's older cousin.

Testimonies from the Pacific Regional Consultation, for example, highlighted the dominance of customary laws and practices over constitutional guarantees of equality, within both matrilineal and patrilineal societies.

As a matrilineal society, we have long recognized the wisdom of including women in our decision making process, and we look forward to participating in the Beijing Conference.

In the matrilineal system, when the husband dies, the widower can be obliged to remain in the late husbands nuclear family with her children, having right to benefit from the inheritance.

At birth an individual acquired specific rights through both the mother and father, usually with an emphasis on one side or the other, depending on whether the society was matrilineal or patrilineal.

Participation of women, however, is limited in the traditionally male domain such as the nakamal' and how the are able to participate depends on the matrilineal or patrilineal nature of the society.

In particular there have been cases of women married into a matrilineal society whose customs dictate that all property belonging to the man be distributed to his sisters and aunts upon his death.

Some cultural practices favour women's inheritance over men's for example, a north eastern Indian tribe of Khasis follow a matrilineal system of inheritance, which provides that only the youngest daughter, or Ka Khadduh is eligible to inherit ancestral property.

However, while the emphasis was on the acquisition of primary rights through a single matrilineal or patrilineal kin group, an individual was in fact linked by birth and marriage to one or more groups through which additional rights to land could be obtained.

Differences may exist in two situations concerning the male family member who allows the access of his woman counterpart to have access to land (husband or uncle), and concerning the ownership of children in the patrilineal system, children belong to the father and in the matrilineal one they belong to the woman.