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UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT, HISTORY AND DIMENSIONS OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 

AGAINST WOMEN* 

Abstract 

Domestic violence has turned out to be a global concern with an alarming rate of reported cases propelled by 

media awareness especially through the civil society organizations. Notwithstanding the foregoing, basic 

understanding of the totality of domestic violence against women is bereft. Therefore, it was imperative for the 

aim of this study to espouse the basic understanding of the concept, history and dimensions of domestic violence 

against women. The research methodology was doctrinal approach, using analytical and descriptive research 

design. It was observed that a deeper understanding of the concept, history and dimensions of domestic violence 

against women would conscientise the victim and any concerned person to take the necessary measures against the 

dastardly act. The main sources of data collection were various legal literatures, both from the physical library 

and the e-library. The study recommended that not just the civil society organization, but every stakeholder in the 

academics, politics, and so on should take up the task of sensitizing households and the masses on the concept, 

history and dimensions of domestic violence against women. Finally, this study was made to be significant to all 

stakeholders in human right and the vulnerable right. 

 

Keywords: Domestic Violence, Women, Abuse, Law 

 

1. Introduction 

Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner 

violence, is defined as a pattern of abusive behaviours by one partner against another in an intimate relationship 

such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation. Domestic violence, so defined, has many forms, including 

physical aggression or assault (hitting, kicking, biting, shoving, restraining, slapping, throwing objects), or threats 

thereof; sexual abuse; emotional abuse; controlling or domineering; intimidation; stalking; passive/covert abuse 

(e.g., neglect); and deprivation. Alcohol consumption1 and mental illness can be co-morbid with abuse, and 

present additional challenges in eliminating domestic violence. Awareness, perception, definition and 

documentation of domestic violence differs widely from country to country, and from era to era. Domestic 

violence and abuse is not limited to obvious physical violence. Domestic violence can also mean endangerment, 

criminal coercion, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, trespassing, harassment, and stalking.2  

 

Domestic violence is a type of abuse. It involves injuring someone, usually a spouse or partner, but it can also be 

a parent, child or other family member .It is a serious problem. It is a common source of injury. Victims may 

suffer physical injuries such as bruises or broken bones. They may suffer emotionally from depression, anxiety or 

social isolation. It is hard to know exactly how common domestic violence is, because people often do not report 

it. There is no typical victim. It happens among people of all ages. It affects those of all levels of income and 

education.3A lot of issues could be said to be peculiar to women or better still, the rate at which they involve and 

affect women is very high in comparison to men. These issues range from violence against women, discrimination, 

subjugation, injustice, rape, female circumcision or female genital mutilation, prostitution, sexual abuse and 

slavery, widow inheritance, trafficking in women etc. These issues could be said to be a global phenomenon as 

they are not limited to Africa alone. Other continents have their own share of all these ‘crimes’ against women. 

Domestic abuse, also known as spousal abuse, occurs when one person in an intimate relationship or marriage 

tries to dominate and control the other person. Domestic abuse that includes physical violence is called domestic 

violence. Domestic violence and abuses are used for one purpose and one purpose only: to gain and maintain total 

control over you. An abuser doesn’t ‘play fair.’ Abusers use fear, guilt, shame, and intimidation to wear you down 

and keep you under his or her thumb. Your abuser may also threaten you, hurt you, or hurt those around you.  

 

Domestic violence/abuse does not discriminate. It happens among heterosexual couples and in same-sex 

partnerships. It occurs within all age ranges, ethnic backgrounds, and economic levels. And while women are 

more commonly victimized, men are also abused—especially verbally and emotionally, although sometimes even 

 
*By Chinwe Patricia ILOKA, LLB, BL, LLM, PhD, Lecturer, Department of Public and Private Law, Faculty of Law, 

Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus, Anambra State. Phone No.: 08035696281. Email: 

Chypat4@gmail.com. 
1S Markowitz, ‘The Price of Alcohol, Wife Abuse and Husband Abuse’ (2000) 2 Southern Economic Journal, 279. 
2Medline Plus,  ‘Domestic Violence’ <http//www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/domesticviolencehtml> accessed on 4th  October 

, 2021. 
3M Smith and J Segal, ‘Domestic Violence and Abuse: Signs of Abuse and Abusive Relation’ (2012) http: 

//www.helpguide.org/mental/domestic violence-abuse-type-s accessed on 4th October, 2021. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_abuse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_abuse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intimidation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neglect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-morbid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abuse


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physically as well. The bottom line is that abusive behaviour is never acceptable, whether it’s coming from a man, 

a woman, a teenager, or an older adult. You deserve to feel valued, respected, and safe.4 

 

2. The Meaning of Violence against Women 

Violence is any kind of behaviour that one person uses to control another through fear and intimidation. It includes 

emotional and psychological abuse, battering and sexual assault.5 However, it can be explained as: 

Physical, sexual and psychological violence occurring in the family, community or condoned 

by the state, this includes wife battering /beating, sexual abuse of female children, dowry 

related, violence marital rape, female genital mutilation and other traditional practices that are 

harmful to women. It includes rape, sexual harassment at work or within educational institution, 

trafficking in women and forced prostitutions.6 

 

Violence against women is a term of art used to collectively refer to violent acts that are primarily or exclusively 

committed against women. It is not limited to physical force so as to damage or injure another. It could be 

physical, psychological, emotional, economic etc. and may not just be through encounter but could be structural. 

Similar to hate crime, this type of violence (against women) targets a specific group with the victim’s gender as 

a primary motive. The United Nations General Assembly defines ‘Violence against women as ‘any act of gender- 

based violence that results in, or is likely to result in physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, 

including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in 

private life’.7 A species of violence against women is domestic violence. 

 

Concept of Domestic Violence 

This is sometimes referred to as intimate partner violence. It encompasses all acts of violence against women 

within the context of family or intimate relationship. Women are more likely to be victimized by someone they 

are intimate with, thus, is commonly called ‘Intimate Partner Violence’ or (IPV). It is an issue of increasing 

concern because it has a negative effect on all family members, especially children. Domestic violence is not 

confined to anyone’s socio-economic, ethnic, religious, racial, or age group. Accurate information on the extent 

of domestic violence is difficult to obtain because of the extensive under reporting for due to cultural restrictions 

and orientations, many even say nothing of it outside. Women whose husbands engage in drinking, smoking and 

drugs are more prone to these experiences. In some homes, beating and battering of women are common 

occurrence just at the instance some flimsy reasons. Uchem8 captured it thus: 

Domestic violence against women and girls is only one example of women’s experiences. There 

are innumerable other examples of violence and injustice against women. However, the root 

issue is in negativity attached to female and the positivity that goes with the male in the society 

and the church. All other gender issues originate from this basic negative orientation towards 

the female and the positive stance towards the male. For instance, the female is valued less than 

the male. Consequently, other things associated with the women are automatically considered 

of less value; for example, women’s work, ideas, opinions, perspective, witness, presence, 

contributions and achievements. The result is a tendency by men (who are not yet conscientized) 

to exclude women from full participation in the human enterprise.9 

 

All forms of domestic abuse have one purpose: to gain and maintain control over the victim. Abusers use many 

tactics to exert power over their spouse or partner: dominance, humiliation, isolation, threats, intimidation, denial 

and blame. 

 

3. History of Violence against Women 

Some experts believe that the history of violence against women is tied to the history of women being viewed as 

property and a gender role assigned to be subservient to men and also other women. This is reflected in almost 

all cultures and even the biblical account of creation in Gen. 2:21-23 lends credence to it. Thus, ‘and the lord 

caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh…..and 

the ribs, which the Lord God had taken from man, made him a woman, and brought her unto the man.’10 Again, 

 
4D Obioma et al, ‘Women Issues: Violence against Women in Africa- an Exposition’ in G.U Ukagba et al (eds), The Kpim of 

Feminism (Trafford Publishing, 2010). 
5Ibid. 
6Ibid, 330. 
7Genesis 2:21-22. 
8R. Uchem, Beyond Veiling: A Response to the Issue in Women’s Experience of Subjugation on African Christian Cultures 

(Snap Press, 2005) 332. 
9Ibid. 
10Obioma (n4)330. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humiliation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solitude
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intimidation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blame


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the unequal relationship between men and women in the society and even in the church gives room for this 

violence against women. Through naturally our being male and female has no intrinsic hierarchy, what we call 

a woman’s place in one human culture could be man’s place in another. This shows that the orientation of treating 

women as such is nurtured in man, not from nature. Many kinds of violations of women have one thing in 

common: they all originate from considering women as men’s property. This, in turn, is rooted in patriarchy. 

That is: 

The power (and rule) of the fathers; a familial, social ideological and political system in which 

men (by force, direct pressure, through ritual, tradition, law and language, customs, education 

and the division of labour) determine what part women shall or shall not play, and in which the 

female is everywhere subsumed under the male.11 

 

Women are erroneously required and made to depend on the male provider. Religion and tradition make women 

to stick to their husbands and suffer in silence and to endure everything so as to save their families. It is a widely 

accepted view by both male and female folk alike that through the ages the lots of women in the society generally 

has been of living more or less in bondage. And lots of women in the society generally have been for the most 

part made object of discrimination and male domination in various forms in the different parts of the world. 

Violence against women seems to be as old as humanity when her role is ‘second class’ and to serve the male 

folk.  

Down through the ages women have been regarded as second class citizens. They have 

stereotype into roles of dependency, submission and passivity…exploited object….defined in 

the terms of men…..excluded from the centers of power and the decisions making processes in 

the society and church.12 

 

We could therefore say that this obnoxious, oppressive and exploitative picture of women subjugation as a second 

class citizen and an object is behind all forms of violence against women. Girls and women worldwide across 

lines of income, class and culture, are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Around the world, 

at least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex or abuse in some other way-most often by 

someone she knows including her husband or another male family member. Every continent has its share of the 

crimes against women and many cultures condone or at least tolerate a certain amount of violence against women. 

The Igbo nation of Nigeria is not spared of these acts of violence against women even though we have not the 

statistics of their occurrence and these issues are very much under reported especially, when they involve family 

members.13 

Violence or abuse ‘is not limited to a single group. It cuts across racial and economic backgrounds; it occurs in 

the families in every ethnic, economic, religious and educational background’. It involves all acts that result in 

humiliation, open ridicule and torture. Because violence usually occurs in the privacy of people’s homes, it is 

often shrouded in silence. Yet abuse, assault or murder is not less serious because they occur within the family. 

Chinua Achebe,14 in his classical book ‘Things Fall Apart’, pictured this violence against women in Igbo land as 

it is epitomized by how Okonkwo ruled his family. He writes: ‘Okonkwo ruled his household with a heavy hand. 

His wives, especially the youngest, lived in perpetual fear of his fiery temper, and so did his little children.’ 

Again, Okonkwo was reported to have beaten his wife Ojiugo. Okonkwo gave her a sound beating and left her 

and her only daughter weeping. 13 This was and is still the fate of women in some places today.Okonkwo nearly 

killed the wife Ojiugo when she made remark against him.  

When the wife who had been beaten murmured, Okonkwo heard it, ran madly into his room for 

the loaded gun, ran out again and aimed at her as she climbed over the dwarf wall of the barn. 

He pressed the trigger and there was a loud report accompanied by the wail of his wife and 

children. He threw down the gun and jump into the barn, and there laid the woman, very much 

shaken and frightened but quite unhurt. He heaved a heavy sigh and went away with the gun.15 

 

Adichie,16 in her classical book ‘Purple Hibiscus’, demonstrated physical and psychological violence against 

women in Igbo land as it is epitomized by how Eugene Achike ruled his family. She said that after lunch when 

everybody has gone into his or her room, swift, heavy thuds are heard from papa and mama’s bedroom. I sat 

down, closed my eyes, and started to count: Counting made it seem not long, made it seem not bad. Sometimes it 

was over before I even got to twenty. I was at nineteen when the sound stopped. I stepped out of my room just as 

Jaja came out of his, we watch Papa descend. Mama was slung over his shoulder like the jute sacks of rice his 

 
11Ibid, 331. 
12AIbegbunam, ‘You can be a Saint; Blessed Laura Vicuna’ The Christian Outlook (N.P., March 7, 2015) 14. 
13C Achebe, Things Fall Apart (Heineman Educational Books Ltd, 1958) 9. 
14Ibid. 
15Ibid, 28. 
16C Adichie, Purple Hibiscus (Farafina, 2006) 33. 



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factory workers bought in bulk at the same border. There is blood on the floor. We cleaned up the trickle of blood, 

which trailed away as if someone had carried a leaking jar of red water-colour all the way down stairs. Mama 

came home the next afternoon, her eyes were vacant like the eyes of those mad people who wandered around the 

road side garbage dumps in town, pulling grimy, torn canvas bags with their life fragments inside. There was an 

accident, the baby is gone, she said: ‘Mama has been severely beaten by her husband Achike because she was 

reluctant to visit Father Benedict due to poor health condition and the beating led to her miscarriage.’17 Still on 

another occasion, the wife is the victim again. Eugine reaches for a small table and breaks it on her belly. She 

bleeds profusely and loses a six-week old pregnancy in the end.  

You know that small table where we keep the family bible, nne? You father broke it on my 

belly. My blood finished on that floor even before he took me to St. Agnes. My doctor said there 

was nothing he could do to save the baby. Mama shook her head slowly. A thin line of tears 

crawled down her cheeks as though it had been a struggle for them to get out of her eyes. Mama 

slid down to the floor. She cried for a long time. She cried until my hand, clasp in hers, felt stiff. 

She cried until Aunty Ifeoma finished cooking. She cried until she fell asleep, her head against 

the seat of the chair. Her son Jaja laid her on a mattress on the living room floor.18 

 

Kambili’s menstruation started and is giving her cramps in the stomach. Mama and Jaja encourage her to take 

conflakes and panadol tablets to relieve the pain shortly before mass. On discovering this, Mama and the children 

receive the beatings of their life as Papa rains down heavy blows on them one after the other with his belt. ‘Papa 

was like a Fulani nomad although he didnot have their spare, tall body as he swung his belt  at Mama, Jaja and 

me’.19 For staying in the same room with Papa-Nnukwu and refusing to intimate Eugene of the fact, Jaja and 

Kambili receive severe punishment from Papa. This time it is neither cane nor belt. Papa invites the children 

separately into the bathroom. Papa takes a kettle of hot water and pours it on Kambili’s feet. Adiche vividly 

portrays it thus: 

He lowered the kettle into the tub, tilted it towards my feet. He poured the hot water on my feet, 

slowly, as if he were conducting an experiment and wanted to see what will happen. I saw the 

moist steam before I saw the water. I watched the water leave the kettle flowing almost in slow 

motion in an arc to my feet. The pain of contact was so pure, so scalding. I felt nothing for a 

second. And then I screamed. I stood in scalding tub; I was too scared to move the skin of my 

feet would peel off if I tried to step out of the tub. I did not realize that mama had come into the 

bathroom. Tears were running down her face.20 

 

When Kambili is beaten to the second position at school by Chinwe Jideze, Papa follows her to the school at the 

beginning of the new term, subtly threatening his daughter not to concede the first position to Chinwe again. He 

insulted, disgraced and humiliated this girl in front of all the members of her class. The innocent Kambili wanted 

the ground to open swallow the whole compound. This threat is psychologically etched in her mind for the rest of 

the term, making her discount every other matter in her life but how to get the first position back. This is a kind 

of psychologically violence dealt on the poor girl.21 

 

4. Dimensions of Domestic Violence 

Violence against women includes threatening or actual use of physical, psychological, emotional or sexual abuse 

against a woman by her family members or other intimates. Commonly behaviours included within the broad 

category of violence against women include: homicide, domestic violence, partner abuse, and psychological 

abuse, dating violence, same-sex violence, spousal abuse, woman battering, elder abuse, courtship violence, 

sexual assault, date rape, acquaintance rape, marital rape and stranger rape.Things that count violence or abuse 

may be anyone or combination of the following: 

 

Physical Abuse and Domestic Violence 

Physical abuse is abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, pain, injury, or other physical 

suffering or bodily harm.Physical abuse includes hitting, slapping, punching, choking, pushing, burning and other 

types of contact that result in physical injury to the victim. Physical abuse can also include behaviours such as 

denying the victim of medical care when needed, depriving the victim of sleep or other functions necessary to 

live, or forcing the victim to engage in drug/alcohol use against his/her will. If a person is suffering from any 

physical harm then they are experiencing physical abuse. This pain can be experienced on any level. It can also 

include inflicting physical injury onto other targets, such as children or pets, in order to cause psychological harm 

 
17Ibid. 
18Ibid, 244. 
19Ibid, 102. 
20Ibid, 192. 
21Ibid, 46. 



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to the victim.22 When people talk about domestic violence, they are often referring to the physical abuse of a 

spouse or intimate partner. Physical abuse is the use of physical force against someone in a way that injures or 

endangers that person. Physical assault or battering is a crime, whether it occurs inside or outside of the family. 

The police have the power and authority to protect you from physical attack.23Physical abuses usually recurrent 

and escalates in both frequency and severity. Although most assault on women does not result in death, they do 

result in physical injury and severe emotional distress. Physical injuries are the most tangible manifestation of 

domestic violence, yet they are frequently not reported by the women and go unrecognized by the professionals 

who should intervene. They are often treated as a private issue. The impact of domestic violence in the sphere of 

total violence against women can be understood through the example that reasonable percentages of murders of 

women are committed by their husbands or boyfriends. Studies have shown that violence is not always perpetrated 

as a form of physical violence but can also be psychological and verbal. 

 

In unmarried relationships this is commonly called dating violence whereas in the context of marriage it is called 

domestic violence. In our Igbo land, many women have in one time or another been victims of beating and 

battering. Even when these things happen in our homes and neighbourhood, we do not have statics of their 

occurrence as they are not reported; hence the true magnitude of the problem is hard to estimate. Though, this 

type of violence is often portrayed as an issue within the context of heterosexual relationships, daughter-mother 

relationships, roommate relationships and other domestic relationships involving two women.24People who are 

physically abused  may have frequent injuries, with the excuse of  accidents,dress in clothing designed to hide 

bruises or scars (e.g. wearing long sleeves in the summer or sunglasses indoors) andFrequently miss work, school, 

orsocial occasions, without explanation. 

Note, it is still abuse notwithstanding the fact that: 

(a) The incidents of physical abuse seem minor when compared to those you have read about, seen on 

television or heard other women talk about. There is not a ‘better’ or ‘worse’ form of physical abuse; you 

can be severely injured as a result of being pushed, for example.  

(b) The incidents of physical abuse have only occurred one or two times in the relationship. Studies indicate 

that if your spouse/partner has injured you once, it is likely he will continue to physically assault you.  

(c) The physical assaults stopped when you became passive and gave up your right to express yourself as 

you desire, to move about freely and see others, and to make decisions. It is not a victory if you have to 

give up your rights as a person and a partner in exchange for not being assaulted!  

(d) There has not been any physical violence. Many women are emotionally and verbally assaulted. This can 

be as equally frightening and is often more confusing to try to understand.  

 

Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence 

Sexual abuse, or sexual assault, represents a physical attack by the abuser that is accompanied by sexual violence 

when a woman is forced to have sexual intercourse with her abuser or take part in an unwanted sexual activity. It 

consists of a range of behaviour that may include pressured sex when the victims does not desire sex, coerced sex 

by manipulation or threat, physically forced sex or sexual assault accompanied by violence. Victims may be force 

or coerced to perform a type of sex they do not desire, or at a time they do not want it. For some better victims, 

this sexual violation is profound and difficult to discuss. Though this happens in Igbo society, women rarely report 

or discuss it either due to shame or some think that they are to serve man’s whims.25 Sexual violence at home is 

rampant and hardly reported. There are two types of sexual violence commonly experienced by women and girls, 

with particular emphasis on wife rape and incest. Sexual violence has remained an issue that is largely ignored, 

and many women do not even know the language to describe their experiences of childhood sexual abuses, 

harassment and marital rape. Sexual violence can no longer be seen as a crime that only occurs between strangers. 

It is to be noted that sexual abuse is a form of Physical abuse. Any situation in which you are forced into unwanted, 

unsafe, or degrading sexual activity is sexual abuse. Forced sex, even by a spouse or intimate partner with whom 

you also have consensual sex, is an act of aggression and violence. Furthermore, people whose partners abuse 

them physically and sexually are at a higher risk of being seriously injured or killed. Categories of sexual abuse 

include: 

(a) Use of physical force to compel a person to engage in a sexual act against his or her will, whether 

or not the act is completed; 

(b) Attempted or completed sex act involving a person who is unable to understand the nature or 

condition of the act, unable to decline participation, or unable to communicate unwillingness to 

 
22Ibid. 
23Smith and Segal (n 3) 2. 
24Obioma (n 4) 333. 
25Ibid. 



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engage in the sexual act, e.g., because of underage immaturity, illness, disability, or the 

influence of alcohol or other drugs, or because of intimidation or pressure. 

 

Psychological Abuse and Domestic Violence 

This is a type of violence that put fear, guilt, shame, low self-esteem and depression on the woman. Psychological 

abuse of women is under estimated, trivialized and at times difficult to define. Psychological abuse has been 

reported by abused women to be as damaging as physical battering because it impacts on the self-image of the 

victim. It often precedes or accompanies physical abuse, but it may occur by itself.26 Emotional abuse (also called 

psychological abuse or mental abuse) can include humiliating the victim privately or publicly, controlling what 

the victim can and cannot do, withholding information from the victim, deliberately doing something to make the 

victim feel diminished or embarrassed, isolating the victim from friends and family, implicitly blackmailing the 

victim by harming others when the victim expresses independence or happiness, or denying the victim access to 

money or other basic resources and necessities. Degradation in any form can be considered psychological 

abuse.27People who are psychologically abused may have very low self-esteem, even if they used to be confident, 

show major personality changes (e.g. an outgoing person becomes withdrawn) and are depressed, anxious, or 

suicidal. 

 

Emotional Abuse and Domestic Violence 

Emotional abuse can include verbal abuse and is defined as any behaviour that threatens, intimidates, undermines 

the victim’s self-worth or self-esteem, or controls the victim’s freedom.28 This can include threatening the victim 

with injury or harm, telling the victim that they will be killed if they ever leave the relationship, and public 

humiliation. Constant criticism, name-calling, and making statements that damage the victim’s self-esteem are 

also common verbal forms of emotional abuse. Often perpetrators will use children to engage in emotional abuse 

by teaching them to harshly criticize the victim as well.29 Emotional abuse includes conflicting actions or 

statements which are designed to confuse and create insecurity in the victim. These behaviours also lead the 

victims to question themselves, causing them to believe that they are making up the abuse or that the abuse is their 

fault. Emotional abuse includes forceful efforts to isolate the victim, keeping them from contacting friends or 

family. This is intended to eliminate those who might try to help the victim leave the relationship and to create a 

lack of resources for them to rely on if they were to leave. Isolation results in damaging the victim’s sense of 

internal strength, leaving them feeling helpless and unable to escape from the situation. People who are being 

emotionally abused often feel as if they do not own themselves; rather, they may feel that their significant other 

has nearly total control over them. Women or men undergoing emotional abuse often suffer from depression, 

which puts them at increased risk for suicide, eating disorders, and drug and alcohol abuse. Abusers are very good 

at controlling and manipulating their victims. People who have been emotionally abused or battered are depressed, 

drained, scared, ashamed, and confused.  

 

Verbal Abuse and Domestic Violence 

Verbal abuse is a form of emotionally abusive behaviour involving the use of language. Verbal abuse can also be 

referred to as the act of threatening. Through threatening a person can blatantly say they will harm you in any way 

and will also be considered as abuse. Verbal abuse may include aggressive actions such as name-calling, blaming, 

ridicule, disrespect, and criticism, but there are also less obviously aggressive forms of verbal abuse. Statements 

that may seem benign on the surface can be thinly veiled attempts to humiliate; falsely accuse; or manipulate 

others to submit to undesirable behaviour, make others feel unwanted and unloved, threaten others economically, 

or isolate victims from support systems. The abuser may fluctuate between sudden rages and false joviality toward 

the victim; or may simply show a very different ‘face’ to the outside world than to the victim. While oral 

communication is the most common form of verbal abuse, it includes abusive communication in written form.30 

This represents a method of control that may consist of verbal attacks and humiliations, including repeated verbal 

attacks against the victim’s worth as an individual or role as a parent, family member, co-workers, friends or 

community member. The verbal attacks often emphasize the victim’s vulnerabilities. In Igbo land they are usually 

taunted for being barren or giving birth to only female children, for being single up to a certain age etc. and 

generally they are spoken to in very derogatory manners. Misogynist in everyday speech in Igbo society is so 

orchestrated. Disdain for women in proverbs, myths and causal remarks, especially in conflict situations; ‘After 

all you are a woman’ ‘Imagine a woman for that matter’ etc ‘A woman that urinates in stooping posture ‘31 All 

 
26Ibid. 
27D Follingstad, ‘Defining Psychological Abuse of Husbands towards Wives: Contexts, Behaviours and Typologies (2000) 

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, (9) 891. 
28Ibid. 
29Ibid. 
30Ibid. 
31Uchem(n 8) 334. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embarrassed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackmail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_blaming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_blaming
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_disorder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_abuse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_abuse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humiliate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falsely_accuse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rage_%28emotion%29


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these affect the woman sensitivity. When people think of domestic abuse, they often picture battered women who 

have been physically assaulted. But not all abusive relationships involve violence. Just because you’re not battered 

and bruised doesn’t mean you’re not being abused. Many men and women suffer from emotional abuse, which is 

no less destructive. Unfortunately, emotional abuse is often minimized or overlooked—even by the person being 

abused.32 

 

Emotional Abuse and Domestic Violence 

The aim of emotional abuse is to chip away at your feelings of self-worth and independence. If you’re the victim 

of emotional abuse, you may feel that there is no way out of the relationship or that without your abusive partner 

you have nothing. Emotional abuse includes verbal abuse such as yelling, name-calling, blaming, and shaming. 

Isolation, intimidation, and controlling behaviour also fall under emotional abuse. Additionally, abusers who use 

emotional or psychological abuse often throw in threats of physical violence or other repercussions if you don’t 

do what they want.  You may think that physical abuse is far worse than emotional abuse, since physical violence 

can send you to the hospital and leave you with scars. But, the scars of emotional abuse are very real, and they 

run deep. In fact, emotional abuse can be just as damaging as physical abuse—sometimes even more so.33 

 

Economic or Financial Abuse and Domestic Violence 

Economic abuse is a form of abuse when one intimate partner has control over the other partner's access to 

economic resources. Economic abuse may involve preventing a spouse from resource acquisition, limiting the 

number of resources to use by the victim, or by exploiting economic resources of the victim. The motive behind 

preventing a spouse from acquiring resources is to diminish the victim's capacity to support oneself, thus forcing 

him/her to depend on the perpetrator financially, which includes preventing the victim from obtaining education, 

finding employment, maintaining or advancing their careers, and acquiring assets. In addition, the abuser may 

also put the victim on an allowance, closely monitor how the victim spends money, spend victim's money without 

one’s consent and creating debt, or completely spend victim's savings to limit available resources.34 This takes 

place when perpetrators control access to all of the victim’s resources such as times, transportation, food, clothing, 

shelter, insurance and money. He may interfere with her ability to become self- sufficient, and insist that he 

controls all of the finances. When the victim leaves the violent relationship, the perpetrator may use economics 

as a way to control or force her to return.35It is not uncommon in our society where men refuse that their women 

should have some economic independence by not allowing them to go to school, take up a job or involve in some 

form of business. So also is the issue of men taking / seizing the salaries of their wives and decide how to spend 

it. This gives the impression that these women are irresponsible. Remember, an abuser’s goal is to control you, 

and he or she will frequently use money to do so. Economic or financial abuse includes: 

(a) Rigidly controlling your finances. 

(b) Withholding money or credit cards. 

(c) Making you account for every penny you spend. 

(d) Withholding basic necessities (food, clothes, medications, shelter). 

(e) Restricting you to an allowance. 

(f) Preventing you from working or choosing your own career. 

(g) Sabotaging your job (making you miss work, calling constantly). 

(h) Stealing from you or taking your money.36 

 

5. Conclusion and Recommendations 

From the foregoing, this article has delved into espousing the necessity for sensitization through a better 

understanding of the concept, history and dimensions of domestic violence in Nigeria. The findings of this article 

are thought provoking. They interrogate African customary and religious believes which favoured the patriarchal 

hegemony. It also purveys a better understanding for peaceful harmony, human development, and life in multi 

religious society, with the home as the citadel for tutelage. Succinctly put, a deeper understanding of the concept, 

history and dimensions of domestic violence against women would conscientise the victim of domestic violence 

and any concerned person to take the necessary measures against the dastardly act. Therefore, it is recommended 

that not just the civil society organization, but every stakeholder in the academics, politics, and so on should take 

up the task of sensitizing households and the masses on the concept, history and dimensions of domestic violence 

against women. Finally, this article is significant to all stakeholders in human right and the vulnerable right. It 

would be of interest in the further researches to examine the signs, effects, causes, and the legal frame work of 

domestic violence. 

 
32Smith and Segal (n 3) 2. 
33Ibid. 
34Ibid. 
35Obioma (n 4) 334. 
36D Berrios, ‘Domestic Violence Risk Factors and Outcomes’ (2019)The Western Journal of Medicine (2)133. 


