Constance Amah, a mother of two in Nigeria, is a victim of domestic violence.
Development Diaries reports that Amah is one of the thousands of recorded gender-based violence (GBV) cases in the West African country despite the existence of laws against the act.
‘I went through mental, physical, emotional and financial abuse. People do not understand what abuse is because the more you try to tell your story, the more they fault you, [and] the more they tell you it is your responsibility, it is your duty to make the marriage work’, she told Development Diaries.
Violence against women in Nigeria is a major public health problem and a violation of women’s human rights; and these women also face the challenge of stigmatisation – one of the reasons they are unwilling to speak out.
‘The people you are telling your story would only listen to you so that they would fault you for being abused’, Amah added.
‘Some friends would stop talking to you, some friends would start looking at you in a certain way because you become vulnerable to people when you share your story with them, so they tend to take advantage of you, so it is a whole lot’.
GBV is a pervasive, historical form of patriarchal oppression that puts the health of women at risk. It is particularly prevalent in developing nations around the world.
A 2021 United Nations (UN) Women’s report revealed that 48 percent of Nigerian women have experienced at least one form of violence since the Covid-19 pandemic.
In an earlier report, the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey 2018 revealed that 31 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 49 faced physical abuse, and nine percent experienced sexual assault.
What can be attributed to the constant rise in cases of GBV in Nigeria?
The Executive Director of Women of Dignity and Girls of Honour Empowerment Initiative (WODGOH), Rachael Adekunle, identifeied cultural norms.
‘In what sense? We have some cultures that place men or that place one gender [male] above the other one [female]’, she told Development Diaries.
She also highlighted how financial factor plays a major role in increasing GBV cases.
‘We have some women who are totally dependent on their partners, and with this, the partner will be like, “oh, I am the one doing all of these“, hence the slightest misunderstanding can lead to violence’, Adekunle added.
‘We have seen some cases, in fact, we even have one that we are handling now, it is as a result of the woman not doing anything and being a liability to the man, and the man sees it as an opportunity to do whatever he likes because he is the one providing everything in the home.
‘He feels he can maltreat her and no one would ask questions. So these are some of the things that contribute to this problem’.
But despite all efforts to buck the trend, GBV keeps increasing in Nigeria.
Nigeria enacted the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP), 2015, to protect people against various forms of violence. However, not all the 36 states of the country have domesticated the law.
The VAPP Act makes provisions on eliminating violence in private and public life; prohibits all forms of violence (physical, sexual, psychological, domestic, harmful traditional practices, discrimination against persons, etc); and provides maximum protection and remedies for victims, and punishment of offenders.
The Act seeks to eliminate existing cultural beliefs that initiate and sustain the prevalence of domestic violence in Nigeria.
Evidence shows that Nigeria is truggling to effectively fix the GBV problem as there are deeply dysfunctional cultures, systemic flaws in institutions, and the perverse social norms which enable sexual and gender-based violence.
‘Some people are yet to know that they are meant to voice out when they are in an abusive relationship; they do not know they are meant to take their stand. So there needs to be more sensitisation’, Adekunle added.
‘I encourage women not to die in silence because the man would marry another wife. For the men, I encourage them to see women as their partners, not their slaves.
‘For the government, we need more sensitisation, we need more participation of women in leadership positions so that we can have a voice and our voices can be heard’.
Development Diaries calls for proper enforcement of the VAPP Act as many perpetrators go unpurnished. The government must also establish famly courts to take GBV cases and attend to them in record time.
The human rights desks at various police stations in Nigeria must also be proacvtive in responding promptly to GBV issues and ensure the protection of victims.
Photo source: EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid