Gender Victimization

Abstract

Badagry is the first community to receive the Christian religion in Nigeria. For this, every good reason exists to suppose that its coming into early contact with the missionaries should have caused the Ogu people to acquire a healthier understanding of fair play in the context of widowhood practices. Regrettably, they seem to respond more slowly to change in their attitudes to widows. Thus, despite the overwhelming presence of Christian relics in the ancient town of Badagry, traditional customs such as wife inheritance and widowhood rites have continued to appear significantly associated with violence against which women are not well-protected. “Gender Victimization: A Study of Widowhood Practices” among Ogu People of Lagos is the focus of this study. Quantitative and qualitative methods were adopted for the study. Thus, five in-depth interviews and three focus group discussion instruments were used to collect primary data, which were used to complement quantitative data. Although quantitative data were subjected to univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses, qualitative data were cleaned, reorganized into themes and analyzed. The study found that much as the Ogu people of Lagos acknowledge the position of the scriptures on society’s non-criminal relation with widows, they still believe that their culture comfortably drives the greater proportion of their widow-friendly interactions. This study suggests that the adoption of cultural best practices in handling women and their peculiar issues will tone down violence in customary widowhood practices and enable women who lost their husbands in circumstances beyond their controls access community-based support.