ABSTRACT
This study examined the perception of gender-based violence among civil servants in Edo state: the influence of demographic variables. The different forms of gender-based violence investigated include sexual violence and harassment, physical abuse, emotional abuse, verbal abuse, and workplace bullying. The study also ascertained the influence of demographic attributes (age, gender, education, marital status, religion) on employees’ perception of gender-based violence in Edo State civil service.
The study adopted the survey research design and employed the use of a structured questionnaire to elicit information from respondents. The responses from the copies of the questionnaire that were administered were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution, mean and standard deviation. Chi-Square (χ2) was used as an inferential statistical technique for testing the research hypotheses at a 5% level of significance. This study used Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 24) to conduct all the statistical analyses.
The findings revealed that the different forms of gender-based violence investigated are prevalent in Edo state civil service. 47.9% agree to the existence of sexual violence, 48.5% view physical abuse as normal, while 52.1% agree that physical abuse occurs without weapons. 57% of the respondents considers emotional abuse as mainly perpertrated by superiors, while 58.4% sees verbal abuse as also been perpertrated by superiors.
The study further revealed that the consequences of the different forms of gender-based violence experienced among employees in the Edo State civil service include a decrease in job satisfaction; anger, anxiety, and depression; mental health, fear; and low performance and productivity. The study recommends that Edo State Government should set up specialized courts to swiftly handle gender-based violence-related cases. This would discourage potential perpetrators of gender-based violence from taking advantage of the slow pace of judgment and other barriers in the formal legal system of Nigeria and also There should be regular orientation programmes for staff on gender-based violence to create awareness, educate them on different forms of gender-based violence, the penalties that go with them and strategies for preventing possible occurrence of such cases in the workplace.
