Working Women and Spousal Violence in Nigeria: Emerging Patterns and Strategies for Change
Etuk, Grace R.; Nwagbara, Eucharia N.; Archibong, Esther P.

Abstract
Despite efforts by the Nigerian government towards achieving the Millennium Development Goal of gender equality and women empowerment, the yet patriarchal and traditional nature of the Nigerian society has made it an uphill task for the vulnerability of Nigerian women to social injustice and violatory practices to be ended, or at least minimized. Removing barriers created by women’s susceptibility to these social conditions will thus be a major stride towards achieving this particular Millennium Development Goal. In view of the pressing need to identify and provide a roadmap to tackling the challenges of women, this study set out to examine the extent which Nigerian women in the formal employment sector are challenged by spousal violence, a major violatory practice facing women both in Nigeria and around the globe. Using a well-structured set of survey questionnaires, incidences of three forms of spousal violence namely; physical, economic and emotional/psychological abuses were probed among 504 working women in the study area. Results revealed that an overwhelming 91.2% of subjects faced one form of spousal violence or the other. The study further revealed that of the three forms of spousal violence investigated, the emotional /psychological form of spousal violence ranked highest in the number of subjects who are faced with it, being that as much as 68.2% of subjects suffered it. Be that as it may, the educational and occupational status of subjects, and by extension, that of their spouses was identified as possible factors responsible for the observed trend. The study concludes that the above finding is a major deviation from the popularly held notion even by some scholars that spousal violence is inflicted on women mainly by physical attack. Recommendations were then made for possible change.

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