ABUSE AGAINST WOMEN AND THE LAW

Then God said let us make man in our own image in our likeness.

So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created

him; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:26-27 NIV

God saw all that He made and endorsed them VERY GOOD. See Genesis chapter 1 verse 31. Query: who is man? a mere creature of God, to counter the pronouncement of God by turning a fellow creature into an object of abuse and violence. Abuse, which in recent times is prevalent in our society, is a distortion of Gods position as regards His creation. Women who are also a creature of God are mostly the victims of abuse, though, the argument in some quarters is that men also suffer abuse in the hands of women. Be that as it may, in this presentation we shall focus on Abuse against Women And the Law.

Countless women the world over had suffered one form of abuse or the other. Nigeria, particularly Ovum is not insulated. This injustice most times stem from cultural or religious practices. The estimate of women who are victims of abuse published in March 2021 by World Health Organization (WHO) indicates that 1 in every 3 (30%) of women worldwide have been subjected to one form of abuse or the other in their life time. Most painful as the study shows, is the fact that abuse comes from mostly men who are intimate with the victims. The report went further to reveal that the prevalence of violence against women in Africa is 31% while 38% of all murders of women globally is committed by intimate partners.

Female students face abuse in the hands of their lecturers or teachers even children as tender as few months old also suffer abuse in the hands the men sometimes their close relative.

Abuse against women is a broad topic but here we will restrict ourselves to abuse against women by the male folks, by looking at the meaning of abuse, types and signs of Abuse, impact and the legal framework.

ELUCIDATION OF TERM.

In order to have a clear picture of the topic of this presentation, and thus, aid understanding of same, it is imperative to define the word abuse.

The Black Laws Dictionary, Seventh Edition by Garner defined the word abuse thus: to depart from legal or reasonable, use in dealing with (a person or thing); to misuse. 2. To injure (a person) physically or mentally; 3. To damage (a thing)

The United Nations General Assembly (1993) defines abuse against woman as;

Any act of gender-based violence that results in or is likely to result in physical, sexual, or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether occurring in public or in private life.

Abuse is an intentional weapon employed by some men to gain control of their partners through physical, sexual, social and/or financial means.

Abuse against women is a human right violation which takes place every minute, the world over. The Covid-19 pandemic with its attendant lock downs led to an alarming spike in domestic violence.

In this presentation the word abuse will be used interchangeably with the word violence.

TYPES AND SIGNS OF ABUSE AGAINST WOMEN

The abusers usually rely on societal oppressive practices or privileges they have over the women to perpetuate abuse. Research has shown that in most instances, the abuser is financially dependent on the vulnerable womans resources and vice-versa. Sometimes, they have problems related to alcohol and drugs. Usually, abuse crawls up slowly, with problems here and there. There is nothing the woman will do that will please the man. The abuser will gradually keep the victim away from her friends and family. He threatens, bullies and controls the woman. Abuse may happen to any woman regardless of her social, educational or financial status. Even some Lawyers, Doctors and Judges have been victims of abuse and some of them had lost their lives in the process. A classical example is the recent one that happened in April this year when one Legal Practitioner who had lived under an abusive relationship was alleged to have died in the hands of her husband who was alleged to have beaten her to coma, then went to the hospital where she was receiving treatment to remove her oxygen mask. Abuse comes in various ways viz: Physical, Emotional or mental, Sexual, technological and Financial.

PHYSICAL ABUSE

This type of abuse may be recognized by, but not limited to:

Kicking, hitting, punching and slapping

Burning

Strangulation

Refusing to allow a person access to medical care

Use of weapons

Forcing the partner into substance abuse

EMOTIONAL OR MENTAL ABUSE

This manifests when a man tries to control his partner by:

Being extremely jealous

Humiliating

Isolating or refusing to let the person go anywhere

Blaming the partner for everything that goes wrong.

There is nothing the partner does that is right

Degradation

Causing undue fear

Intimidating the person

Insulting even in front of people

Making the person feel bad about herself

SEXUAL ABUSE

It is sexual activity carried out or performed without the consent of the partner. It is not really about sex. It is about the show of power and it includes:

Hurting the partner during sex

Sexual act performed when the victim is not conscious or is scarred to refuse

People being compelled to have sex with other people.

Sabotaging birth control.

TECHNOLOGICAL ABUSE

It happens when a partner tries to use technology to control his partner. This type of abuse can happen to people of all ages, but it is more prevalent among younger generation who use technology and social media to interact in a manner most often to monitor his partner. Examples include:

Hacking into a partners email account

Using tracking devices to monitor the womans location, calls and messages on her phone thus monitoring her interactions via social media

Demanding for the partners passwords

FINANCIAL ABUSE

Any behaviour that maintains power and control over finances constitutes financial abuse. Examples include causing a partner to lose their job through direct and indirect means, such as:

Inflicting physical harm or injury that would prevent the person from attending work

Harassing partner at their workplace

Controlling financial assets and effectively putting partner on an allowance

Stopping a partner from having a job in order to make her financially dependent.

Insisting on keeping the partners ATM.

unauthorized withdrawal of funds using ATM card

Partner insisting on title document over a property acquired by the woman must be in his name.

Steals money from the woman

If you are in a relationship where your partner is exhibiting any, some or all of the above circumstances know that you are living under an abusive relationship.

The victims of abuse often times do not come up to relate the situation they found themselves in to people around them. Some of the women do not speak up due to lack of positive response from the society. While others may not speak out for fear of losing the economic support they are getting from their abuser or the fear of what people may think about them. The question then is, how do we know that someone around us is being abused?

When someone you know to be confident suddenly exhibits signs of low self-esteem.

Constantly checking on her partner

Always broke - never with money even though she earns money

Perpetually worried about pleasing her partner

Being absent from school, work or social gathering without any clear reason

Giving excuses for bruises and other injuries.

Wearing long sleeve even when the weather is very hot just to cover bruises

IMPACT

The magnitude of the impact of abuse is immeasurable. The impact is varied depending on the age group, the intensity of the violence and frequency of the torment they are subjected to. The consequences of abuse could be categorized into two broad headings; effect on the woman and her family, and effect on the society at large.

IMPACT ON THE WOMAN

Abuse has both immediate and long-term major effects on health and wellbeing of the woman even after the relationship had ended. The physical impact is usually as serious as the psychological impact. Compared to women who were not subjected to abuse, women who were subjected to abuse as World Health Organization in 2000 reported, have poorer physical health. Some of the immediate Health Impacts maybe:

Physical injuries - such as cuts, scrapes and bruises, fractures, dislocated joints

Hearing loss

Vision loss. A typical example is my Secretary who is today blind due to abuse from her spouse.

Miscarriage or premature delivery

Sexually transmitted diseases

Knife wounds

Gunshot wounds

Death. In 2010 a traditional ruler in Akure was alleged to have physically and bloodily assaulted his wife which resulted to her death. Cases abound but most are not reported.

Long Term Health Impacts on women who have gone through abuse may Include:

Gastrointestinal disorders associated with stress like heart burn, indigestion and lack of appetite

Headaches

Back pain

Fainting attacks

Seizures

Gynecological problems like delayed menses and menstrual crams

Anxiety

Depression

Eating disorders

Post-traumatic stress disorder

Sleep disturbances

Alcohol and substance misuse

Suicide

IMPACT ON THE FAMILY

One of the severe effects of abuse or violence against women is its impact on the children. It is a natural phenomenon that children have more attachment to their mothers. Abuse done in front of a child upsets the child deeply. The children may turn silent and reserved. It may have a deeper and gruesome impact on their mindset. They may develop the tendency of reciprocating it in their lives. Children who witness violence may develop serious emotional, behavioural, developmental or academic problems. As they develop, they are more likely to:

Lack concentration at their studies, forcing them to drop out of school

use violence at school or community in response to perceived threats

attempt suicide

use drugs

commit crimes, especially sexual assault

to turn violent to enhance their reputation and self esteem

become abusers in later life

IMPACT ON THE SOCIETY

Violence against women adversely affect the society, as the women succumb to the torture they face, there is the tendency that they stay indoors. If they are employed, they fail to work with full capabilities in their workplace. It reduces the productivity of the victim thereby affecting the society negatively. The children are found to concentrate less in their studies and eventually drop out of school thereby failing to get the education they might have gotten, if they were not tormented. Thus, the society loses productive asset. The cumulative effect of violence is that, it hinders development and causes slow economic growth of the society.

LEGAL FRAMEWORK

There is no law in Nigeria specifically enacted against violence against women that is applicable throughout the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Under the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended, there are provisions which preserve the Fundamental Human Rights of all citizens of the Country found under Chapter IV particularly Sections 33 to 43. Women rights being human Rights, women are entitled to the rights abovementioned. Despite the existence of the above law women go through abuse. The victims that are bold enough to make a report of being battered by their partners to the Law enforcement Agents, do not get the desired attention. It is either they are treated as loose women or are told it is a family matter that should be resolved at home. Thus, exhibiting the cultural believe inherent in this Country that wives should be beaten to be corrected or disciplined.

Regrettably, despite the well-established fact that the Constitution is supreme, any law which is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution is void to the extent of its inconsistency, laws are made in Nigeria which brazenly offends the express provisions of the Constitution. This is depicted in Penal Code which is applicable to Northern Nigeria only, precisely Section 55(1)(d) of the said Law provides that:

Nothing is an offence which does not amount to infliction of grievous hurt upon any person and which is done by…

(d) a husband for the purposes of correcting his wife such husband and wife being subject to any routine law or custom on which such correction is recognize as lawful.

This section of the Penal Code has been a smoke screen under which men hide to abuse their partners.

Impressively, in 2015 the Violence Against Persons Prohibitions (VAPP) Law came into effect. Though the citation of this law does not specifically denote application to women, it could be inferred from the provisions that women are the main focus of the law. This law makes provisions for a broad range of violence. It covers psychological, socio-economic and physical violence. It makes provisions for violence perpetrated by spouses, deprivations by spouses, battery, harmful widowhood practices, female genital mutilation, indecent exposure, incest, abandonment of children, as well as harmful substance attacks. The snag here is that this law is only applicable in Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. However, a number of other states have domesticated this law in their States like; Anambra, Bauchi, Ekiti, Enugu, Kaduna, Akwa Ibom, Kwara, Yobe, Jigawa, Kogi Bayelsa, Rivers and Oyo. Our dear own State, Abia came into the league in October 2020, when our Governor Okezie Ikpeazu (Ph.D) assented to it. Lagos State has Protection Against Domestic Violence (PADVL) which came into force in 2007. Although some other States have passed the bill adopting the VAPP Law by their Houses of Assembly, yet the bills have not been assented to by the Governors to give it the force of law. These States are; Benue, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Ogun, Cross River and Plateau. The rest of the States have not taken any step towards replicating same in their States.

What makes the VAPP law the most outstanding Law in Nigeria with regard to abuse or violence against women is that it covers a broad range of offences bordering on abuse, prescribes steeper penalty for offenders and gives the High Court jurisdiction to grant a victim protective or restraining order.

The question then is, how many women are poised to take advantage of this law to protect themselves from abuse. Most women do not speak out because of lack of positive response from the society. Some will refuse to approach the law because of stigma or the fear of losing the economic support they get from the perpetrator. Most of the women are not even aware of their right to seek redress in a court of law. Hence, the need for sensitization. There are countless numbers of NGOs working in this regard and offering legal aid to women, for instance FIDA (“Federacion Internacional de Abogadas” which translates to International Federation of Women Lawyers) Abia chapter, is doing a marvelous work in promoting awareness by mounting sensitization campaigns and offering free legal aids to victims of abuse and other related violence.

CONCLUSION:

Abuse against women is an ill wind that blows no body any good as could be gleaned from the foregoing. The victims should learn to speak up or permanently hold their peace in the grave. One should not be deceived by beliefs like the one that says, for better for worse; the Bible while not supporting divorce enjoins us;

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves Matthew 10:15 KJV.

Therefore, as a woman, you should be wise enough to know when you are living under abusive relationship and make the right decision. Whereby, you allow somebody to take your life in the name of abuse, you are also answerable to God. Separate yourself from an abusive relationship for your sake and the sake of your loved ones and the society. Those of you who are married if you do not want to divorce, separate from the abusive relationship, reap the benefits of the VAPP law and get a protective order.

GERTRUDE NWANNEKA ELEWEKE (MRS.)

LEGAL ADVISER, OWIA.