Originally published here.

Gender-based  violence is  not a  new social  phenomenon, but  its magnitude  is alarming.  Gender-based  violence  has  become  a  common  feature  of interpersonal relationship between  men and women. It  has socio-cultural  and legal  dimensions.    Gender-based  violence  is  considered  violence  directed against  women  because  they  are  women  or  that  disproportionately  affects Women.

Women are beaten, “punished”, forcibly raped, and, even, murdered by intimate partners on a daily basis1  There are patriarchy, matriarchy, and egalitarian culture of gender relationship.  Nigeria, to some extent is largely a patriarchy society. In recent time, egalitarian family relationship  enjoys in  some homes  is as  a reflection  of gendered  socio-legal awareness  created by globalization. 

In Nigeria,  culturally, men  dominate gender affairs. Modernization, and Westernization also contributed immensely to the freedom and social recognition enjoy by women in contemporary time. In this  study,  gender-based  violence  is  identified  and  described  as  domestic violence,  sexual  violence,  kidnapping,  ritual  killing  and  other  forms  of  anti-social behavior that are targeted at women and young girls.

Most common acts of  violence  against  women  include  sexual  harassment,  physical  violence, harmful  traditional  practices,  emotional  and  psychological  violence,  socio-economic  violence  and  violence  against  non-combatant  women  in  conflict situation2.  It  should  be  noted  that  gender-based  violence  has  consequences  on  health, economic,  social and  psychological  state  of women. 

Gender-based  violence  is both  biological  and  cultural  learning  attitude.  Beating  of  wives  by  their husbands,  are  widely  practiced  as  an  acceptable  form  of  discipline3.  Many women do not consider battering by their  husbands as an act of abuse because they  are  culturally  imbued.  Adherence  to  culture  has  become  an  excuse  for violent  behavior  against  women.  At  times,  police  responded  with  levity concerning  violent  behaviors  towards  women;  they  considered  it  a  normal family’s affair4. 

The rate of gender-based violence against women and young girls has become unprecedented during the COVID-19 lockdown.  COVID-19 pandemic presented key  challenges  in  displacement  contexts  with  increased  risks  of  domestic violence,  intimate  partner  violence,  and  sexual  exploitation  and  abuse,  in addition to and resulting from loss of income and  household stress; as well as barriers  to  help-seeking  options  for  survivors5. 

Prevention of  gender-based violence  requires  urgent  attentions.  This  paper  therefore,  identifies stakeholders  on  prevention  of  gender-based  violence  in  Nigeria  such  as government,  survivors,  development  partners,  and  non-governmental organizations. This paper is divided into Sections and  subsections. Section  One presents introduction of the paper. Section Two explains Cultural Transmission Theory  and  relates  it  to  gender-based  violence.  Section  Three  examines  the consequences  of  gender  based-violence  while,  Section  Four  identifies  the stakeholders  in  gender  based  violence.  Section  Five  addresses  prevention mechanisms and lastly, Section Six the final section, provides conclusions of the paper.

You can read the complete article here.