Gender-based violence in patriarchal communities: A sociological and criminological perspective. A case study of Bomadi Local Government Area (LGA) in Delta State, Nigeria.
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.60787/mjrdp.vol15no2.186Keywords:
Gender-Based Violence, Patriarchy, Intimate Partner Violence, Social Norms, Criminology, Mixed Methods ResearchAbstract
This study investigated Gender-Based Violence (GBV) in a patriarchal social order analyzing its prevalence, patterns, and the influence of patriarchal social orders’ structures. Mixed-methods approach was utilized where a survey of 350 women and in-depth interviews of 20 survivors & 15 community leaders were analyzed. The primary aim was to understand comprehensively the reasons of GBV in the community patriarchal system. Data from the survey indicates GBV prevalence in the community is high with a striking 65% lifetime prevalence and intimate partner violence (IPV) being the highest at 58%. A significant number of women in the study context were of the view that their experience of GBV was a result of high community patriarchal victim blaming norms. The data from the qualitative sources of the study demonstrated the extent to which survivors of GBV were respondents to the patriarchal system of justifying male dominance, shamed & silenced survivors, left unresponsive, unresponsive institutions, and unresponsive institutions. The vulnerable economic status of women in the societies studied was evidenced to ‘traps’ the women in GBV vulnerable relationships. The study concludes that the level of community patriarchal system is entrenched in the community, the level of the community patriarchal system entrenched in the community demands significant interventions focused community, the level of community patriarchal victim blaming norms and the empowered women controlled community. It is of the view that in the community, the tempered community patriarchal norms is in the community, the tempered community patriarchal norms is in the available community resources.Downloads
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