WOMEN RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS (3): SOCIAL NORMS AND PRACTICES

The third area women are globally discriminated against is through social norms and practices. Through them women rights in Nigeria are denied because social norms determine gender expectations and shape people’s behaviours in the community. Noteworthy also is to state that cultural practices are determined by social norms. These norms are both “injunctive” and “descriptive” (Overseas Development Institute, 2015). Injunctive norms are what people believe they and others are supposed to do while descriptive norms are what people actually do. In most societies in Nigeria, women are believed to be subservient to man. Married women, for instance, are supposed to obey their husbands without complaining. Even though most communities in the country believe that women should be dignified, social practices against women indicate that reverse is the case.

In most communities in the country, female genital mutilation (FGM), early and/or forced marriage, widowhood rituals, dowry-related violence/practices, among others are some of the social practices that demonstrate that women are considered second-class citizens. FGM, for instance, is considered as a way of preventing promiscuous behaviours among women. This is why one in four women aged 15-49 has undergone FGM, and 48 percent of women aged 20-49 were married before the age of 18 (Veen, Verkade, Ukwuagu and Muriithi, 2018) in Nigeria.

Most girls, especially in the Northern part of the country, are married off early against their wish. Education of these girls are perceived as a waste of resources since they will end up in the kitchen. This is why, according to a study, Kebbi, Sokoto, Bauchi, Jigawa, Yobe, Zamfara, Katsina, and Gombe states have Nigeria’s worst girl child education, highest female illiteracy, highest adolescent girl marriage, highest under 15 child bearing, and highest risk of maternal death and injury (cited in Premium Times, 13^th October, 2013). Even though girl-child education is better in the southern Nigeria, it is not taken as serious as that of a male-child.

Lack of regard for women rights is the basis for widowhood rituals, mostly prevalent in the eastern part of the country. Dowry-related violence and intimate partner violence (IPV) against women are also the fallout of low esteem for Nigerian women. The study by Benebo, Schumann and Vaezghasem (2018) indicated that estimated women’s lifetime exposure to IPV from their current husband at 19% for emotional IPV, 14% for physical IPV, and 5% for sexual IPV. They also submitted that previous studies have shown the prevalence of IPV to range from 31 to 61% for psychological/emotional violence, 20 to 31% for sexual violence, and 7 to 31% for physical violence. According to the study, prevalence of IPV ranges from 42% in the North, 29% in the South-West, 78.8% South-East, to 41% in the South-South. Women right, therefore, can only be guaranteed and all forms of violence against them eradicated and/or minimized when obnoxious social norms and practices are eradicated in Nigeria. Only then will women rights become human rights in the country.

Notes

Overseas Development Institute (2015) is titled “Social norms, gender norms and adolescent girls: a brief guide”; it is also available at https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9818.pdf. Veen, S., Verkade, A., Ukwuagu, C. and Muriithi, M. (2018) wrote on “Breaking a culture of silence”. This work examines social norms that perpetuate violence against women and girls in Nigeria. The data on girl-child education in Northern Nigeria provided by a study is published in Premium Times 13^th October, 2013 titled “Northern states have Nigeria’s worst girl-child education-Report”; it is available at https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/146560-northern-states-nigerias-worst-girl-child-education-report.html. Benebo, F. O., Schumann, B and Vaezghasem, M. (2018) is titled “Intimate partner violence against women in Nigeria: a multilevel study investigating the effect of women’s status and community norms”. It examines how social norms influence IPV and its effect on women.