Gender violence in Nigeria is a growing problem, especially in Northeast Nigeria. In the past few years, there have been many cases of domestic violence, sexual exploitation, early marriage and rape of minors. What are the reasons that women are still suffering? What are the causes of gender based violence? Today we will discuss this and more.
Violence against women in Nigeria
The most common type of violence that occurs in a lot of countries. There are two terms that are associated with ferocity against women – “gender-based violence” and “violence against women”. Even though they sound quite similar, they are different.
Violence against women is a violation of human rights. It can be expressed in various forms – physical, psychological, sexual harm and various treats of these acts. It also can be described as a kind of discrimination. This is a type of violence that has a direct impact on a woman and can occur both in private and public life.
What is gender based violence?
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Gender-based violence against women, on the other hand, is a type of violence that is directed against a certain gender. In this case, against woman only because she is a woman. This is the violence that is derived from an unequal relationship between genders. The best example of gender-based violence against women is the abuse of a woman by a male, like domestic violence.
What are the types of gender based violence?
Gender-based violence is divided into categories:
1) Indirect violence
This type of violence is characterized by stereotypes and attitudes around one’s gender, in this case, female. For example, inequality at a workplace, university, and society, in general, is a form of indirect violence. The worst part is that besides being discriminated based on gender, women can be discriminated because of their religion, race, social class, and age.
2) Direct violence
The most obvious type of violence that can be spotted. It includes any form of sexual, economic, sexual or psychological violence.
Direct violence is divided into five types:
– slavery, sexual exploitation and any form of trafficking in human beings;
– violence in a relationship (domestic violence);
– forced marriages, child marriages, any crimes committed in the name of “honor”;
– sexual abuse through stalking, bullying, calling, online harassment, messaging, etc.
– denying access to property, education, health care and labor market – economic violence.
State violence
State violence is usually associated with indirect violence. It’s a form of violence that is committed by the people of the law – police, border officials, correctional officers or any other individuals of the government. The state violence is a type of violence that is now occurring in Northeast Nigeria, in the conflict region. It occurs in the form of sexual violence and systematic rape.
It can lead to early marriage, abuse and exploitation.
Family violence
It is the most common type of violence that is associated with gender based violence against women. Any abuse against a woman or a girl that occurs in a family context is considered as family violence. It can be:
– forced marriage;
– sexual abuse by a stepfather, uncle, father;
– marital rape;
– beatings;
– any kind of verbal abuse.
Community violence
This type of violence is associated with abuse from a man that is unknown and unrelated to the women. It can be in different forms – rape, public humiliation, sexual harassment and online abuse.
Causes of gender based violence
There are many different things that can cause gender based violence. In order to prevent gender-based violence against women in the future, we should learn the causes. Firstly, we will start with the most common type of violence – the domestic violence.
Domestic violence
Let’s use some simple examples of violence against women in order to answer the question “what causes gender based violence?” :
1. A man came home drunk, his wife asked him “Where have you been?” and he hit her;
2. A man started to yell at his wife because she did something wrong. She talked back, and he hit her.
Some people may say that men acted violently in the examples because of alcohol and bad mood. Firstly, excuses do not justify abuse both for women and men. Secondly, alcohol, jealousy, problems are only the part of the reason.
Usually, violence starts from a very young age, when children are abused by their parents. We are talking about verbal and nonverbal abuse. If you treat your son with violence, then expect that he may grow up violent.
Remember that if your husband believes that the only way to express his masculinity and power is to abuse you, then you should consider a divorce. Do not stay and think “Well, I can surely change him with my kindness and love.” Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible. If the person does not want to change, he won’t change. You can try and talk about it with your husband, and maybe it will lead to some results. But if you see that it’s a dead end, then it’s better to flee.
Let’s dig more deeply into the causes of gender based violence and talk about the cycle of violence. A relationship may get violent, and the first abuse will be unnoticeable. Sometimes it can only be one attack, and it will never happen again. However, there are times when violence continues. It will follow the pattern described below:
1. The tension between partners builds. It comes with arguing, verbal abuse and blaming.
2. Then there comes violence. It can be choking, kicking, slapping, sexual assault, use of different objects as weapons.
3. The calm period between partners. Promises that this will never happen again, guilt or denial.
When there is more than one case of violence, the calm period will become shorter and shorter. In the beginning, women will tend to resist and fight back. But sooner or later, the man will take control of her. This leads to long term abuse and violence.
Before heading to another type of violence, let’s answer the question: “Why do women stay in an abusive relationship?” There are several reasons:
– she has nowhere to go;
– she may be too scared to ask for help;
– she may be brainwashed by her husband or other abusers. For example, he may say that she deserves to be abused because she is a bad wife or mother.
To sum up, the causes of family abuse is the mental health of the men (violence in young age), abuse from women that can lead to abuse from men, lack of opportunities for women.
Causes of state and community violence
One of the most common causes of state violence is the disrespect of the woman in society.
There are several causes of community violence:
– Some men are not confident enough in a society, so they want to self-assert themselves using a weak woman as a tool.
– Some men can’t control their aggression, emotions or sexual desire. We all know that physically women are usually weaker than men. When they can’t blow off (like go to the gym), they use women as a way to reduce their pressure.
Unfortunately, gender based violence in Nigeria is still widespread. And this problem occurs in other countries too. However, there are organizations that are helping women, children and are protecting their rights. We hope that in the near future there will be no gender based violence against men or women at all.
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