Violence against women in Igboland, South-east, Nigeria: A critical quest for change

Abstract

This paper examines some violent cultural practices such as widowhood discrimination, female genital mutilation, wife battery, and early girl child marriage perpetrated against Igbo women in the three senatorial districts of Ebonyi State, South-east Nigeria. To achieve the purpose of this study, four hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The questionnaire was one the instruments used for data collection. The second instrument: Focus Group Discussion (FGD) was also employed to compliment the questionnaire method. The multi-stage sampling technique was employed to select samples in stages in the three senatorial districts of the state. One hundred respondents were selected as sample from each district, and in all, three hundred (300) respondents were selected as sample for the study. Chi square (X2) was adopted to test the hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The results rejected the null hypotheses, and accepted the alternate hypotheses. The rejection revealed that these cultural practices were inimical to the development of women. Sequel to this, the paper suggests that the Ebonyi State House of Assembly should make laws to protect women from these violent and obnoxious cultural practices.  Government at all levels, particularly in Ebonyi State should empower women through education (free tuition) and also through free micro-credit facilities to enable them embark on small-scale businesses to improve their poor economic status, and also their persons without any inhibitions from cultural practices.   Key words: Widowhood discrimination, female genital cutting, wife battery, early child marriage, patriarchy.