ssure on the husband, pressure which encourages men in the direction of male supremancy (Ogundipe-Leslie, no date). Ogundipe-Leslie states that subordination of women in marriage has another reality: women are overworked. Generally, men do no housework or childcare and women struggle on two fronts, the home and workplace.Violence against women exists, but there are no statistical data to determine the extent of the problem. Police do not normally intervene in domestic disputes. In areas where customary law exists it becomes even harder to educate and stop violence against women when the level of alleged abuse does not exceed customary norms. The government only occasionally condemned child abuse and neglect and made little effort to stop coustomary practices harmful to children, such as the sale of young girls in marriage (No author, 1998).Until recently, Christian women were not allowed to be pastors or preachers or to take leadership positions in worship. Women were expected to be silent and submissive and not until recently have women been attaining leadership positions in their churches (Oduaran & Okukpon, 1997). Muslim women who live under purdah are secluded from the outside world. While the men may marry as many as four wives, women are not permitted to be seen in the company of another man. It is generally believed that a respectable woman should not be exposed to outside influences, and that a womens education will erode her husbands control (Oduaran & Okukpon, 1997).Female genital mutilation (FGM) is still practiced extensively in all parts of the country and among all religious groups, and many ethnic groups, despite the fact that the Nigerian government has publicly opposed female genital mutiliatin. In February of 1998, the Minister of Health, Ihechukwu Madubuike, announced that the government had established a 25-person committee to study this issue. The number of female genital mutilations are declining and the M...
