Participants at a workshop on gender based violence organised by United Nations Women in Conjunction with Unicef in Gombe on Wednesday

For a person to be
termed a woman, she must have been a girl. Gender discrimination therefore is not restricted by age. It starts the very day the girl child is delivered. Thus, from birth, she suffers condemnation, neglect and disdain. This is enhanced as she grows into a woman.
The girl-child is taught to accept the role of the woman primarily as wife and mother and to fullfil certain economic needs prematurely, whereas from boyhood, the males are already taught to assume the dominant role.
From birth, the girl-child is stigmatized. In some    homes today, if a girl child is born, the father of the child becomes unhappy and sometimes puts the wife away for not being able to bear him a male child, or marries a second wife for that reason.
A child was born and the friend of the man visited the family and demanded that the good news be celebrated, on the contrary, the father of the child retorted by saying, “there is nothing to celebrate, its another mistake.” This is the extent to which the girl child has been looked at as a second class citizen.
Following the above, the girl child who is seen as  a second class citizen is relegated to carry out household chores and eventually given out in marriage so as to get the bride price to train the boy child in school.
The girl child who is domineered by the society of men in all her endeavours faces more serious violation.  For instance, female genital mutilation which is practised as a way of ensuring  that women are not promiscuous, is very harmful to the reproductive health.
Male circumcision is an acceptable practice worldwide for religious and aesthetic reasons. On the contrary, female circumcision is harmful to woman’s reproductive health, and it implies the mutilation of the female genital for ulterior motives i.e. to forestall erotic sensation in order to preserve virginity and chastity.
Thus, women are quasi castrated for men’s purposes and this is against human rights. At this point, I would like to say that who ever wants to get spoilt will get spoilt and who ever wants to be good will be good, parents who are practising this should stop.
Women circumcision is a harmful practice which hampers their reproductive rights and as such is repugnant.
The effect of female genital  mutilation is encompassing. The girl child suffers pronounced physical disabilities and even psychological trauma. It has been noted that quite often, primitive steps have been taken to gain success in this act which requires the use of unsterilized tools which cause HIV/AIDS infection.
This experience does not only cause pains, it introduces shock, hemorrhage, injury to adjacent organs and could also cause death.
Furthermore, female genital mutilation causes painful and prolonged menstrual flow thereby increasing the incidence of anaemia.  It could also cause painful coitus i.e painful sexual intercourse.
Considering the effect of genital mutilation, it could be quickly reached and truely too, that such practice is not only harmful but, it is repugnant to natural justice, equity and good conscience.
Although, it has been assumed that the reason for genital mutilation is that if the clitoris is cut off, it will reduce the sex drive in women, thus cutting down on prostitution. But following recent research, it has been proved that the  clitoris is usually chopped off during circumcision.
Female genital mutilation has no relationship with female sexual drive. Thus, the practice of female genital mutilation infringes on the rights and dignity of the woman or girl child which ought to be protected.
The collective effect of the municipal and international conventions is that such acts that are tagged harmful practices should be prohibited and females should be protected from those degrading inhuman practices. A practice that renders the girl child entirely hopeless and useless. It’s effect introduces incessant bad odour, depletion of self image and the effect of inward analytical disturbances, one that affects her psyche. Something she has to live with in her entire life time.
Another instance is early marriage.  Child marriage is a bane in the Muslim North. Very young girls are in effect forced into assuming the monumental responsibilities of wife and mother prematurely.
The aftermath of such brazen sexual violation is the incidence of Vesico-Vaginal Fistula (VVF) as well as Recto-Vaginal Fistula (RVF) among young girls aged between twelve and fourteen years. These victims are often abandoned by their husbands who end up procuring more child brides.
Their young girls are culturally viewed primarily as sex-objects to be controlled and dominated by their husbands and any attempt at rebelling could be fatal.
A child has no capacity to enter into marriage contracts. It therefore follows that it is unlawful for a child to have sexual intercourse.
The issue of marriageable age has not been settled. Both municipal and international conventions have not placed an acceptable age for marriage. For this reason, different states have different marriageable age.
Despite the unsettled age limits, recourse would be given to the condemnation of the act of having carnal knowledge of girls below 13  years by men.
If carnal knowledge with a girl below 13 years amount to an offence under the Act, it follows that a marriage to such a person within such age bracket should be prohibited.  It is unlawful.
Owing to the duty of the law, it is the duty of the fathers to protect that child from any act that diminishes her dignity.
A duty is imposed on the head of the family to provide necessities to a child who is under 14 years and a member of the household, and he is held to have caused any consequences which result to the life or health of the other person by reason of any omission to perform that duty.
Since the girl-child is regarded as a second class citizen, she is given out as a housemaid at a settled price which in turn is used to train the male child who is given a preferential treatment at the expense of the girl child.
The girl-child as a housemaid in a strange household is on a frolic of  her own. She is not given any assistance, neither is she cared for. All her ‘Oga’ and ‘Madam’ want is that she does whatever she is asked to do.
This is an infringement on the right of the girl child. By the universal declaration of Human Rights, childhood is entitled to special care and assistance.
The housemaid, who is always given buckets which are bigger than her to fetch water from a place very far from the house, does not have the opportunity to be happy, loved or protected.
Most housemaids die untimely of accidents, maltreatment from those they serve etc, which also infringes on their inherent right  to life.
Also, the kind of work she does deters her growth not minding the provision that “state parties should ensure to the maximum extent possible the survival and development of the child”.
At other times, the child is forced out of her parents house against her will and is taken to a town very far from the one she hails from to be maltreated, thus unlawfully separating her from her parents.
Moreso, nobody gives a growing girl child who is given out as a maid the opportunity  to form her views, let alone expressing those views freely in all matters affecting her as a child.
Again, as a housemaid, the girl child is not entitled to privacy and is sometimes exposed to unlawful attacks on her reputation and honour, since she could be accused of stealing or other like acts.
The giving out of the girl child as a housemaid contravenes the provision of Article 18 of the Rights of the child. It stipulates that state parties shall use their best efforts to ensure recognition of the principle, that both parents have common responsibilities for the upbringing and development of the child. The best interests of the child will be their basic concern.
Furthermore, the house-maids are exposed to physically and mental violence. Sometimes, the man of the house rapes them, and at other times anybody could abuse them sexually thereby destroying them emotionally and psychological for the rest of their lives.
To be contd.
Aniekan is an intern with The Tide.

Patience Aniekan