Grace Okon
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), said that an estimate of 64% of married women in Nigeria are unable to enforce their sexual and reproductive health rights.
Dr Elizabeth Mueller the UNFPA Representative to Nigeria, disclosed this while speaking to Journalist.
She stated that at the global level only 55% of women are fully empowered to make choices over their reproductive healthcare, contraceptive or whether to say yes or no to sex.
“Nearly half of women still cannot make their own decisions about whether or not to have sex, whether to use contraception and whether or not to seek out healthcare services. In addition about 46% of married women in Nigeria between the age of 15 and 49 years are in a position to make personal decision regarding their sexual and reproductive health right “.
” While 56% of the married women have decision about their sexual health care made by their husbands, and 33% of married women make such decision jointly with their husbands.Also the whole body which issued a report on the state of bodily autonomy for women across the world, said that only 56% of married women in Nigeria can say no to their husbands, if they do not want to have sexual intercourse, and only 41% can boldly ask their husbands to use condom.”
Mueller furthermore added that 2021 SWOP report has shown that hundreds of millions of women and girls do not own their bodies.
“Their lives are governed by others, that depriving women or girls of bodily autonomy is wrong and compounds the inequalities that arise from gender discrimination, which lead to violence and with COVID-19 pandemic the situation is even worse”.
The National Population Commission chairman Hon. Nasir Isa Kwara, disclosed that between 15 and 49 years of women and girls experience gender base violence and 31% even experience physical violence during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.
