Domestic Violence: Spousal and Child Abuse in African Nations

Photo Credit: VoicesforDignity.com/Public Domain

Perhaps many individuals find it uncomfortable or hard to talk about subjects like this one. It involves such weighty portions of fear, shame and guilt for those being afflicted, or possibly also for those who were previously afflicted. We pondered on this subject matter wondering how appropriate it is to write about it in the present forum. But then again, wouldn't this be the best forum to bring the darkness of domestic abuse to the open. So, it was our decision that the issue of spousal and child abuse is far too important for us to brush aside. Our prayer is that conversations about such abuse might trigger more discussions and critical steps to be taken, and hopefully, adults and children who find themselves in situations like these can get the help they need and deserve.

Domestic violence in sub-Saharan Africa is often precipitated by ignorance, culture, substance abuse and addiction. There is a cause-and-effect relationship at play here. The substance, culture and ignorance are the causes - initiating or compelling the behavior; the violence is the effect. Sadly, whilst the violator is addicted to violence and clouded by false beliefs, the co-dependent spouse is addicted to the pain, as they keep coming back. This is an eternal conundrum for the family especially the children, the co-dependent spouse and the violent protagonist. It's a cycle of misery that never ends.

Domestic violence, so defined, has many forms, including physical aggression or assault (kicking, biting, shoving, hitting, restraining, slapping, using objects), or threats thereof; sexual abuse; controlling or domineering; verbal, psychological, or emotional abuse; intimidation; stalking; passive/covert abuse otherwise known as economic deprivation; and neglect. The misogyny in sub-Saharan African cultures is widely displayed by the frequency of domestic violence, which is linked to a way of life and the man’s responsibility to ‘discipline’ his wife and children.

Photo Credit: VoicesforDignity.com/Public Domain

Reports from Humanitarian news and Analysis (IRIN) (2007) show that 25% of women in Dakar & Kaolack (Senegal) are subjected to physical violence from their (male) partners and that very few admit that they are beaten, while 60% of domestic violence victims seek external family aide and in three quarter of the cases, they are told to be quiet and to endure the beatings (‘a part of life’). The reports further reveal that a law passed in the Senegalese penal code punishing domestic violence with imprisonment and fines is poorly enforced due to cultural and religious resistance. In Ghana spousal assault tops the list of domestic violence (IRIN, 2007), in Nigeria; reports reveal “shockingly high” level of violence against women (Afrol News, 2007). Amnesty international (2007) reports that a third (and in some cases two thirds) of women are believed to have been subjected to physical, sexual and psychological violence carried out primarily by husbands, partners and fathers while girls are often forced into early marriage and are at risk of punishment if they attempt to escape from their husbands. More pathetic is the revelation of gross under reporting and non documentation of domestic violence due to cultural factors (Afrolnews, 2007).

There have been reports of cases of husbands killing and maiming their wives in local media. The statistics presented by This Day (2011) newspaper are daunting, about 50% of women have been violated by their husbands by battery. Shockingly, more educated women (65%) are in this terrible situation as compared with their uneducated counterparts (55%). Most endure, believing they have nowhere to go; divorce is tabooed and in any case, believing, for good reason, that the law will not protect them. A whopping 97.2% of them are not prepared to go to the Police.

To compound this issue is the fact that majority of the law makers or law enforcers themselves are probably guilty of spousal abuse and often do not even recognize that they are abusing their spouses or children. Therefore, using various forms of media for outreach, religious organizations and other non-profit outfits need to step in to educate the masses at the community levels on the highly destructive nature of domestic abuse, and why it needs to be tackled on ongoing basis.

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_violence_in_Nigeria https://www.irinnews.org/africa https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259487750_Domestic_Violence_and_Nigeria_Women_-A_Review_of_the_Present_State http://www.domesticabuseshelter.org/infodomesticviolence.htm http://www.americanbar.org/groups/domestic_violence/resources/statistics.html http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2872483/ __________________________ Ernie J. Burgher is a bi-lingual freelance journalist and author, and speaks English and French. Ernie writes for SitiTalkBlog. Copyright SitiTalkBlog. All rights reserved. SitiTalkBlog is focused primarily on Africa's socio-economic and political issues, scientific and medical topics, as well as global current issues and news. SitiTalkBlog also highlights positive entertainment as long as it has the potential to cause us to think and take positive actions. The blog is geared towards sensitizing people to take constructive actions and engineer practical solutions Reprint and Re-distribution Permission: Any and all parts of this original article may be reproduced as long as the author and SitiTalkBlog and References and links are cited and maintained as in the original publication. No part of the original article may be modified or used for commercial purposes, and no additional authors may be added or cited except as indicated “Ernie J. Burgher and SitiTalkBlog” in the original article