Spending power: Love, money, and the reconfiguration of gender relations in Ado-Odo, Southwestern Nigeria

Women's (mis)behavior in intimate relationships is a constant topic of commentary among women and men in Ado-Odo, southwestern Nigeria. Today's women are said to be wayward and troublesome, defying their husbands in pursuit of other men's love and money. Yet, many women maintain marriages in which there is no love and no money. And for those who do leave, remarriage offers little attraction: neither for love nor for money. In this article, I explore the interplay between love and money in intimate relationships in AdoOdo and implications for the ways in which gender and agency are construed and enacted in everyday life.