Gender Abuse in Nigerian Urban Space: An Impact Analysis of Domestic Violence against Women in Awka, 2000-2020

Abstract

Domestic violence in Nigeria happens to both men and women but, oftentimes, it is mostly directed against women.  The level of violence against women in the country increases by the day with two out of every five in most communities experiencing violent abuse at home, and the impacts on them are multiple. Women in both rural and urban spaces do experience it. Though many a scholar of gender and society has explored the problem of domestic violence against women in Nigeria, however, it is observed in their analysis of the problem that they not only tried to generalize the causes but tended to generalize the effects on women and how they respond to them. There is very little effort to dissect the experience in the urban spaces from what is obtainable in the rural areas as the latent social and economic elements in the two environments widely differ. As an attempt towards abridging this gap in knowledge, this paper, using Awka in Anambra State as a reference case, examines how domestic violence against women in the urban space impacts on them. It focuses on the family life, social relationships, psychological and mental health as well as economic wellbeing of the women. It makes some important findings: first, the impacts of domestic violence on women are more psychological damaging than physical; secondly, despite its deleterious consequences, many women seldomly report such abuses against them; and thirdly, very little instances of domestic violence against women have actually led to divorce. The paper adopts the thematic descriptive method of analysis. Sources of information used in this paper include: oral interviews, public government document and agency reports, books, journal articles, and the internet. The interviewees (informants) are drawn from different quarters in Awka metropolis, and were selected from amongst the victims as well as members of the general public that have relevant information or/and knowledge about the subject.