The Troubling Epidemic of Wife-Battering in Ogbaru and Onitsha North Local Government Areas of Anambra State, Nigeria

Purpose: Debates and assumptions on the trend, motives/causes and implications of wife-battering in Nigeria are largely speculative. The purpose of this article is to explore in a raw form, the socio-economic determinants of wife-battering, on the sub-areas of family violence. Methods: Using qualitative and quantitative research methods, a sample of 364 respondents comprising 196 males and 168 females was drawn from Anambra State, Nigeria. Multi-stage and purposive sampling techniques were used to reach the respondents. Questionnaire and in-depth interviews were instruments for data collection. Results: Findings confirmed that wife-battering in Ogbaru and Onitsha-North Local Government Areas is most often caused by denial of sex and infidelity. Conclusion: The policy implications calls for the creation of local government welfare units to be holding periodic talk shows for married couples on the imperative of living happily.

Social consequences of wife-battering in Ogbaru and Onitsha North Local Government Areas of Anambra State, Nigeria

Domestic violence is gaining increasing notoriety in Nigeria, yet, it is treated with little importance. This could be attributed to a number of reasons; one of which is underreporting. This article examines the social consequences of wife-battering in Ogbaru and Onitsha North LGAs of Anambra State, Nigeria. Using qualitative and quantitative research approaches, a sample of 364 respondents comprising of 196 males and 168 females was drawn from Anambra State. The study adopted multi-stage and purposive sampling techniques in reaching the respondents. The quantitative data were analyzed using percentages, while thematic method of analysis was employed in the qualitative data. We found out and argue in this paper that wife-battering causes divorce, miscarriage, and children growing up to be aggressive. This paper proposes the need for emotionally incompatible couples to be allowed to get divorce. Also, the study calls for the government to encourage battered wives and children to get emotionally stabilized by establishing marriage counseling units in the communities that make up the Local Government Areas. And the units should make use of the services of personality psychologists and social workers.

Di bụ ugwu nwanyị (Husband is the dignity of a woman): Reimagining the Validity of an Igbo Aphorism in Contemporary Society

Cultural aphorisms tend to sustain gender disparity. There are certain cultural expressions which tend to sustain gender disparity and oppression among the Igbo of Nigeria. One of such is di bụ ugwu nwanyị, literally translated ‘husband is a woman’s dignity’. This Igbo maxim tends to foster gendered marginalization and oppression in contemporary Igboland. The saying reinforces the status of the husband as requisite for the visibility and pride of the woman. Perhaps this may explain why some marital issues such as husband infidelity, wife-battering, are culturally underplayed for protection of the man. Thus women are forced to endure abuses in their marriages. There exist a plethora of other gender related issues that are rooted in the di bụ ugwu nwanyị metaphor. This paper engages the implications of this Igbo cultural expression amidst the advocacy of gender justice and inclusivity in Igbo land. As qualitative study that adopts the phenomenological approach, this paper, draws insight from interviews, observations, oral histories and extant Igbo literature. Akachi Ezeigbo’s snail-sense feminism and Obioma Nnaemeka’s negofeminism undergird the theoretical framework. The paper advocates for the obliteration, or reinterpretation of di bụ ugwu nwanyị that honours dignity for gender equity and inclusivity so as to valorize the status of women in Igboland.

Historical Struggle

How did VAWG first gain recognition? Violence against women and girls—from marital rape and wife battering to sexual abuse and harassment—has largely been hidden in recorded history, though the problem extends back well beyond our mothers’ and grandmothers’ generations. Similarly, the struggle against this...

Battered Women Syndrome: Need for Judicial Objectivity

When the victims of wife-beating are subjected to excessive violence, a syndrome occurs, which during a criminal procedure can be pleaded as BWS (Battered Women Syndrome). It is also referred to as Battered Spouse Syndrome. However; the condition is most common among women than that of men. Wife battering is the most common and least reported crimes in all types of society. Some never mention about it and bear the violence while some others seek help from the law. But there also exists a different group of battered women who kill their abusive partner without any remorse. Some scholars have claimed that is a normal reaction from a woman who has been subjected to acute battering and that they should be given defense by law while some others have opposed to this notion of Battered Woman Syndrome. BWS, as a very new concept to the legal and judicial system of Nepal, still has a lot of gaps to be filled. This paper will analyze the concept and practical implications of Battered Woman Syndrome alongside the legal and judicial trend in case of Nepal. Further, this paper will establish why Battered Women Syndrome cannot blatantly be given as a defense in all cases and yet should be considered by the judiciary. In the end, the paper puts forth the necessity of new law/legal provisions in making the judicial decisions objective and justiciable in case of battered women.