WOMEN'S RIGHT AND GENDER EQUALITY LAWS IN NIGERIA


WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY LAWS IN NIGERIA

Nigeria has made numerous attempts in protecting women's rights by enacting laws, but the persistence of challenges is due to gaps in implementation, cultural norms, and the lapses between federal and state laws. Key legislation and the legal protection for women in Nigeria is discussed below.

1. Key Legislation Protecting Women in Nigeria

a. Violence against Persons (Prohibition) Act (VAPP), 2015

The VAPP Act is one of Nigeria’s laws addressing gender-based violence. The Act spoken on rape, criminalizes spousal rape, stipulated life imprisonment for offender, protecting victims of domestic violence, prescribes penalties for offenders, and criminalizes Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and harmful widowhood rites and also identified economic deprivation as a form of abuse.

Challenges Faced by VAPP, 2015

  • The VAPP Act is a federal law that applies only in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT, Abuja). Unless a state enacts the Act as a law, it is not enforceable in that State. In recent years, several states have adopted it, but many have not.
  • Many states, especially the Northern part of Nigeria, hinder enforcement due to Cultural and religious beliefs of those states
  • Lack of awareness of Laws Protecting Women means many victims do not understand their rights and existing laws protecting women and how to seek redress.

b. Child Rights Act (CRA), 2003

The Child Rights Act provides strong legal protections against child marriage, child labor, and abuse by setting the minimum age for marriage at 18, therefore prohibiting child marriage, Criminalizes child trafficking and sexual abuse, guarantees children’s rights to education and healthcare.

Challenges:

  • Despite being a federal law, some states have not domesticated the CRA, with the resistance from northern states due to cultural and religious norms.
  • Enforcement remains weak, particularly in rural areas where child marriage and forced labor persist due to beliefs, hunger and poverty
  • Sharia law contradicts in some northern states, where the Sharia law provision contradicts the CRA provisions, like where girls may be married before 18.

2. Gaps in Legal Protection for Women

Although the VAPP Act and CRA are significant, the inconsistency in the adoption of federal law at the state level, leading to uneven legal protection for women across Nigeria.

  • Some Sharia laws in Northern Nigeria contradict provisions in the VAPP and CRA Acts, especially in regards to child marriage and marital rape.
  • Customary law and traditional practices often undermine formal legal protections.
  • Many women lack access to justice, being bullied to silence by societal norms, with police and courts sometimes dismissing domestic violence as a "family matter."
  • The constant Victim-blaming and stigma discourages women from reporting crimes.
  • Shelters and support services for abused women are limited or nearly non-existent, making most women tolerate abuses because of the fear of uncertainty.
  • Nigeria has not fully implemented laws that seek to align domestic laws with international human rights frameworks like CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women).
  • Women still face workplace discrimination, Sex trafficking, unequal inheritance rights, and limited political representation, even in recent times.

In conclusion, Nigeria has made substantial progress in protecting women by making laws like the VAPP Act and Child Rights Act, but hurdles faced in implementing the laws, resistance at the state level, and socio-cultural barriers continue to limit their effectiveness. Improved enforcement, creating more awareness, federal and state laws should be harmonized, can be taken toward better legal protection for women in Nigeria.

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