THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN KADUNA TOWN

THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN KADUNA TOWN

Abstract:

This study, the social context of violence against women in Kaduna town, is based in Marxian theory which advocates fundamental changes in the society as Regards women. It is also guided by the radical feminists who regard patriarchy as the most pervasive and enduring system in women oppression. Data were collected from five social welfare offices. These are: two state social welfare offices and two Local Government Social Welfare Offices in Kaduna where a total of one hundred and twenty (120) case records were studied. five clients were then selected for intensive case study from the medical social welfare office of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Kaduna. This brings the total number of social welfare offices to five. The choice of the research area was determined by the industrialized nature of of the town which makes it possible for many ethnic groups to be represented. The data were coded manually to find out the relationship between the economic status of women and the extent and prevalence of violence against them as well as the relationship between social class and the experience of violence. Frequency distribution tables were used as well as percentages, and in a few eases, cross tabulation, In the findings, age distribution of the women shows that women aged between 15 and 35 years experience more-violence than older and younger women. Married women suffer more battering as a form of violence, single and divorced women suffer more abuse, while widowed women suffer more deprivation as a form of violence.

THE SOCIAL CONTEXT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN KADUNA TOWN