The
weight of humans’ inhumanity to fellow humans, especially females, being
targets of such trajectory, provokes revaluation of the unidirectional
evolution theory and a re-conception of the nature of human existence as
cyclical, like Yorubas’ cosmology. Perhaps, civilisation has reached its point
of diminishing returns; one would wonder when one witnesses the gravity of
brutalities done against women sometimes. Like chameleon, this violence appears
in different colours. At times, it takes the crimson hue of physical assaults;
sometimes, unimaginably iridescent.
Many
have personally witnessed occasions where females are physically abused by
their husbands or relatives. Most times when men launch violence against wives,
it is over barrenness or malesness.
From relatives on the other hand, it is over either the husband’s death or
inheritance.
Also,
culture and religion contribute heavily to the brutalities females experience
in societies. They have some patriarchal conspiracy theories deliberately
formulated to subjugate the female gender to the male counterpart.
In
religion for instance, both Bible and Koran obviously connive and command that
the wife always subject herself to the husband, care for, and sheepishly obey
him.
Similarly,
culture dictates many unprintable rules to women. In Yoruba culture, a wife
must not relocate to the family house, no matter how hellish the husband’s
house; else, she will be tagged, dálémosú,
a psychologically inimical nomenclature. The culture specifically
emphasises that, a wife must be deflowered by the husband; not vice versa. But
one wonders, who or what defiles them
when many a defiled wife doubling as
a rape victim suffers psychological violence from husband and relatives. Gender
difference should not define sexuality, thus, such pronouncements are blows
against the humanity of the female gender. Note, every Nigerian culture has its
version of female dehumanisation.
For
the purpose of clarity, some illustrations will be fetched from Nigerian
newspapers, the archives of realities.
In
Nigerian Tribune, Yejide Gbenga
writes:
“Research reveals that 25% of the women in Nigeria
go through an ordeal of the domestic violence and every fourth Nigerian woman
suffers domestic violence in her lifetime with the worst forms cited as
battery…the victim, for a long time keeps the situation from people, protecting
her abuser.”[i]
Rape
is one of the attributes of animals which humans have chosen to adopt nowadays,
and this births the aforementioned thought of humans’ probable attainment of
point of diminishing returns in civilsation, thus, the slippery slope to
animalistic practices. In September 2015, “a woman, Mrs Ogodo Egede, aged 34,
was reportedly raped to death by a man she allegedly owed #1500.”[ii]
To
extend this, nowadays, the news of rape and sexploitation
in Nigerian tertiary institutions and societies is quotidian. Female students
at all levels and institutions are not safe from the onslaught of these unruly sceptres.
To evince this, The Guardian reports:
“The police statement also indicated that two people
disguised as vigilantes, collected
phones and raped two female students…”[iii]
In sequel to the
above, it is cogent to mention that, the hoi polloi are not the only subjects
of the barbarism. However, contrary to the expected from Nigerian
intellectuals, they are deeply immersed in the hideous practice.
Expectantly, Obafemi
Awolowo, a Nigerian politician and political philosopher, builds a frothy, sacrosanct
image of the Nigerian intellectuals; equating his expectations with qualities
expected of a good leader, he writes:
“the regime of mental magnitude, properly and
eminently equipped with a considerable measure of intellectual comprehension
and cognition, insight and spiritual illumination. In this regime, we are free
from: (1) the negative emotions of anger, hate, fear, envy or jealousy… (2) Indulgence
in the wrong types of food and drinks, ostentatious consumption and (3)
excessive or immoral craving for sex. In short, in this regime, we conquer what
Kant calls “the tyranny of the flesh” and become free.”[iv]
Contrary
to the impeccable images Awolowo carved for Nigerian intellectuals, Nigerian tertiary
institutions, nowadays, are the dens of atrocities, authoritarianism and
unchecked sexploitation of females. Though
we find the most constant, acerbic critics of government policies among some
lecturers guilty of these filthy practices, they execute the act without a
speck of guilt but with the feel of immunity, while victims of these busy goads
turn sufferers and smilers.
Testifying
to the presence and strength of this evil, in The Nation newspaper, a columnist writes:
“However, there are quite a number of students who
have suffered sexual abuses in the universities and many more who will continue
to suffer sexual violence because there are no structures in place or the
existing structures are not strong enough to absorb or withstand the influence
of the calibre of personalities involved.”[v]
Acquired
by fortune, education is seen as a means to an end of authoritarianism by this
category of people.
Violence
against women gains infant shock when it comes from males, compared to when
females are both the subjects and direct objects of the action. Apparently,
factual readings and literary fictions have shown instances of women mutilated
(physically and psychologically) by fellow women. For example, Chika Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street depicts
occasions where dehumanisation, triggered by a woman to fellow women, serves as
a technology of human trafficking as exemplified in Madam’s definition of
Sisi’s identity, “…you’re persona non grata in this country. You do not exist,”[vi]
she defines.
Also
illustratively, The Nation newspaper
reports, “the Lagos state government has taken custody of Adebimpe Badmus, the
16 year old girl allegedly burnt with an iron by her aunt, Ketu.”[vii] Worse
still, the culprit had two other female accomplices.
Symptoms of the disease of women brutalisation
in Nigeria shown, there is a need to mention the causes too. The major
pathogens of violence against women are: poverty, illiteracy, culture,
religion, patriarchy etc
Although,
chronic are the symptoms of violence against women, the malady is not
incurable. To cure the disease of restless libidos, important authorities
should be equipped to divest the lecturers, influential culprits and hosts of
the illness, of their immunities. A columnist suggests, “it is time for civil
societies to go beyond creating awareness on the ills of sexual harassment to build
and strengthen institutions to fight against the immunity that some addicted
lecturers enjoy.”[viii]
Furthermore,
the government should make wife-empowerment a compulsion for potential
husbands; institutions should be established to maintain such. For, the concept
of a full-house wife is a psychological bully of women, subjugating them to
forcible humility.
Plus,
a law compelling very rich politicians and business tycoons to financially
assist charity institutions that succour females should be executed. It is
apparently scarce that a well-to-do mother gives her child to another family
for nurturing.
Besides
formal education and skill acquisitions at grassroots levels, females should
also be trained in martial arts for the purpose of self-defence.
Moreover,
Ombudsman could have an application which females can use on smartphones to
report cases of violence, in addition to spending to embark on (risky) journeys
to their offices. It should also serve guidance purpose on the basis of
self-defence.
Relevance
lies in upholding the Rule of Law so that the perpetrators (of any status), faces
the music, constitutionally. Without this, proliferation of violence against
women should rather be anticipated.
Besides
violation of women, the country could be in mess should the government remain calm
when pro-activeness is needed. At least, the abduction of the Chibok girls
would have been prevented, were the concerned authorities pro-active.
The
recommended solutions for the purpose of annihilating female brutalisation
followed, some additional problems are simultaneously addressed, perhaps
accidentally. Some child marriages are birthed by parents’ poor state or
tyranny of some paedophile. Women being empowered, there may be reduced reasons
to give their precious wards out for early marriages.
Also,
if the rule of law is upheld, tyranny will be shamed.
Another
prospect involves the boosting of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by the goods and
services women acquire and sell. Their wealth keeps the violent aloof and
fertilises the economy to an extent.
The
axiom, health is wealth is widely
accepted because they complement each other.
Thus, with skills, which create wealth, women can purchase health.
In
summary, this essay has touched several forms and appearances of violence
against women with illustrations from life experiences, newspapers and
literatures. It has stated the causes, treatments and the prospects of such
treatments, encapsulating women and the country at large.
In
conclusion, a committed attempt to terminate violence of any kind: physical,
psychological etc, against women is symptomatic of the country’s desires for
greatness; since males need females for reproduction, our fatherland needs these
mothers for progression.
OLADIMEJI DAMILOLA JOSEPH
WORKS
CITED
[i] Nigerian Tribune. No. 16,675 (13thJanuary, 2017): pp23
[ii] The Nation, Vol 9. No
3330, (6th September, 2015)
[iii] The Guardian Vol 33. No
13,887 (5th January, 2017): pp 44.
[iv] Wiredu, Korasi et al. “Post-independence African Political
Philosophy.” A Companion to African
Philosophy Ed. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Limited
(2004): pp 247
[vi] Unigwe, Chika. On Black Sisters’ Street. London:
Vintage, (2009):pp 182, print.
[vii] Ibid, vol 10. No 3339. (16th
September, 2015): pp 53.
