WHY WOMEN ARE WORST HIT BY VIOLENCE
Erdoo Due
In recent years, Nigeria has attracted global attention due to violent conflicts between farmers and pastoralists, leading to loss of lives, livelihoods and disruption of the economy in the affected states. How has the conflict affected people most specially women and what dimensions have the conflict changed the roles of women? This feature reveals the gender roles; the impact of the conflict on gender roles and institutional involvement to overcome the conflict between the affected populations in conflicts. The need to develop pathways towards effective strategies to enhance the receptivity and compliance of actors to international standards that protect the rights of women most especially during conflict most especially in the rural communities.
As to what are the roles of a rural woman, Achiatar Mbapinen of Kambe-Tyulen, Guma Local Government said: “women fetch water from the river, do the cooking, bath the children, clean the house, go to farm. Even at the farm, there are some tasks that are left to women alone like harvesting of yam and planting of yam in my community.” The men carry out hard roles like tilling the soil. To Mbapinen: “biologically we are not the same and emotionally we are not the same.” She further said “as I speak to you now people are displaced by this same herders-farmers conflict and most times women are the most affected because they are the ones that have to carry the children when they have to run at night and all of that.”
A woman displaced since 2018 who resides at the Abagena IDP Camp while narrating her ordeal said the crisis generally affects everyone, but women are the worst hit. In terms of rape, women are abused in that area. “There was a time the herdsmen attacked and adopted women. The few women that survived shared experiences of sexual abuses.
Speaking to another woman in Tse Ayom in Mbagusa/Mbatser council ward of Konshisha who prefers not to be mentioned said women are the most affected in every household. She also said that some women at the moment do not have yam seeds because these were destroyed by the military invasion.
For this, UN Women is working on policies and programmes on four key result areas that have the potential to transform the gender equality landscape of the country, including, expanding women voice, leadership participation, women empowerment and increasing Women’s leadership in peace, security and Humanitarian Response. Furthermore, to curb issues of discrimination against women and harmful practices against them, UN Women in Nigeria has been in the forefront to support revision of discriminatory laws, regulations policies, systems and practices. Nigeria adopted United Nations Security Council Resolution UNSCR1325 in 2013. Therefore the country should show more commitment towards protecting the rights of women by empowering them towards achieving these goals.
