The rise of radical Islamic fundamentalism and violence against women in Nigeria

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed an unprecedented rise in attacks on women's rights and freedom in sub‐Saharan Africa. No historical quantitative research exists that analyzes how sexual, physical, and emotional violence against women is influenced by the rise of radical Islam in Nigeria. Consecutive survey data for the years 2008, 2013, and 2018 were analyzed to determine associations between religion and other risk factors for violence against women. Multiple logistic regression was used to control for covariates. Sexual violence against Muslim women increased by 216.7% compared to a 25.4% increase among Catholics. Muslim women with no education had a lower estimate of the sexual violence they experienced (β = −0.15, CI: −0.137 to −0.016) than Christian women with no education (β = −0.05, CI: −0.138 to −0.004). The risk of violence against women has increased in recent years due to the activities of Boko Haram in the Muslim‐dominant north. We show that the effects of religion and education on violence against women are interconnected.