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To facilitate the design of effective programmes to eliminate violence against women in Nigeria, this paper examined women's perceptions of wife beating. The data were derived from the 2003 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS). Both descriptive and analytical methods were used to assess the net effects of sociodemographic factors on women's perceptions of domestic violence. The study demonstrates that a large percentage of Nigerian women agreed that a man is justified in beating or hitting his wife; 66.4% and 50.4% of evermarried and unmarried women respectively expressed consent for wife beating. Respondents' approval of wife beating or abuse varied by personal attributes. Ethnic affiliation, level of education, place of residence, wealth index and frequency of listening to radio were significantly related to concurrence with wife beating. This paper highlights the cultural factors responsible for, and negative effects of, domestic violence against women in Nigeria and makes a case for raising public consciousness against it. RÉSUMÉDans le but de rendre plus facile la formulation des programmes efficaces pour l'élimination de la violence contre la femme au Nigéria, cet article a étudié la perception des femmes à l'égard de la violence contre la femme. Les données ont été recuillies à partir de l'édition de 2003 de l'Enquête sur la Santé et la Démographie au Nigéria (ESDN). Les méthodes descriptives et analytiques ont été employées à la fois pour évaluer les effets nets des facteurs socio-démographiques sur les perceptions qu'ont les femmes par rapport à la violence domestique. L'étude a démontré qu'un grand pourcentage de femmes nigérianes étaient d'accord que l'homme est justifié de battre ou de frapper sa femme; 66,4% et 50,4% des femmes qui ont jamais été mariées et les femmes non-mariées respectivement, avaient exprimé leur accord sur la nécessité de battre ou de frapper la femme. L'approbation des interviewées sur la violence contre la femme variaient selon les attributs personnels. L'affiliation ethnique, le niveau d'instruction, le lieu de domicile, l'indice de la richesse et la fréquence de l'écoute radiophonique, étaient liés de manière significative à l'approbation de la violence contre la femme. Par exemple, l'indice de la richesse avait un rapport négatif en ce qui concerne la violence faite à la femme par son mari. L'article met en valeur les facteurs culturels qui sont responsables de la violence domestique contre la femme au Nigéria et ses effets négatifs; il propose aussi des arguments pour éveiller la conscience du public contre elle. (Rev Afr Santé Reprod 2005; 9[2]: 38-53)

Data collected from 3,073 couples in four Nigerian cities and one semi-urban settlement were used to examine reproductive decision-making and male motivation for large family size. The report concludes that the characteristic male-dominant and patrilineal traditions support large family size and that men's reproductive motivation, to a large extent, affects the reproductive behavior of their wives. Therefore, the factors influencing men's reproductive outcomes and intentions are considered important for fertility transition in Nigeria. Male education, age at marriage, monogamy, interspousal communication, and intention not to rely on children for old-age support are significantly related to smaller actual family size and preferences for smaller families, while being in a male-dominant family setting has a strong relation with large family size and preferences for larger families. The policy implication of this study is the need for programs targeted at men and designed to change their attitudes about population matters and motivate them, and hence their wives, to produce smaller families.

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Singleness for women beyond the age considered conventional for marriage is regarded as a misnomer in Nigeria. Such women are pitied and blamed for their status. Often the blame is based on assumed personal character defect of the women. Nevertheless, empirical research by some sociologists and other women scholars has linked singlehood to demographic, economic, religious, and personal causative factors. Building on these past studies, this article employed aspects of Silvia Walby's "theorising patriarchy" to examine patriarchy, a structural determinant of singlehood that has not received much attention in the study of singlehood in Nigeria. Twenty-nine involuntary, childless, never-married women aged 30 to 48 years were interviewed in urban Lagos, Nigeria. The women's narratives revealed the limiting effects of the six patriarchal structures identified by Walby in their opportunities to marry. This study provides relevant information for attainment of Nigeria's gender policy and contributes to intercultural understanding of singlehood.