Culture-induced violence against women in Nigeria: Implications for sustainable development

Abstract

Women have disproportionately suffered culture-induced violence more than men in an heterogeneous diverse society like Nigeria, thereby undermining equal rights to peace and freedom from discrimination. This study interrogates the past and the present, thereby re-imaging the depth of culture-induced violence against women in physical, emotional and psychological dimensions. Source materials for this work are gathered from primary and secondary data comprising case studies, oral interviews, journals, textbooks and the internet. Findings revealed that patriarchal-oriented detestable cultural elements and traditions have incited, condoned and systematized violence against women and the girl child with the devastating implications for peace, social security and sustainable development. Thus, patriarchal dominance; women’s discriminating tendencies against women; conspiracy of silence; and under-representation of women in women’ affairs have indulged the subsistence of cultural violence against women in time perspective. It is further revealed that prevailing postmodernist socioeconomic and political trajectories have exacerbated cultural brutality and exclusivity tendencies against women. The study concludes that protecting women from violence accentuated by obnoxious cultural practices would enable them maximise their potentials as veritable components of human capital. It is, therefore, recommended that domestication of international conventions; gender-blind peace policy actions; women’s motivational disposition towards women; and peace education would downplay culture-induced violence against women and promote equal rights to peace, thereby enhancing women’s prospects for sustainable development in Nigeria.