Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and Harmful Traditional Practices (HPs) are direct consequences of gender inequality and the broader system of social injustice in Nigeria. Most communities and relationships are built on patriarchal values and a model of male power maintained through force, direct pressure, socialization, ritual, tradition, law, language, customs, education and gender division of labour. Men and women are active players – both in promoting inequalities and working towards equality. For equality to happen, men and women’s attitudes and behaviours need to change.

SGBV and HPs pervade the entire landscape (at home, school, the workplace, communities and the wider society) in the forms of sexual harassment, rape (including spousal rape), wie and child battery, widowhood rites, excessive burden of house work, acid baths, female genital mutilation (FGM) among others. Though women and men experience SGBV and HPs, there is evidence that historically, women have suffered more than men because they have been more marginalized.