GENDER, LANGUAGE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN THE NORTH WEST REGION: THE CASE OF BAMENDA

Description

This study is an investigation on the problem of domestic violence within the Bamenda community; the Northwest (Bamenda) woman is viewed as law – abiding, hardworking, self-sufficient and enjoying happy family relationships. Yet she still faces violence, worst of it domestic violence. Not only is the woman viewed as being hardworking same thing goes with the men. It has been argued that men who experience such violence often encounter pressure against reporting, with those facing social stigma regarding their perceived lack of self-confidence and other denigrations of their masculinity. To deal with the abuse as revealing it destroys the myth and the victim’s image. This silence of the Northwest (Bamenda) man/woman is due to social pressure against such reporting, ideologies (culture), resulting from the language used and the linguistic components used as far as domestic violence is concerned.