https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4665-366X
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ABSTRACT
Scholars have written extensively on the multiple roles and functions of female bodies. Their depictions in areas such as reproduction, sex, oppression and empowerment, peace and protest, weakness and strength, among others, have been examined through the ages. In addition, the objectification of female bodies in terms of rape, mutilation, forced pregnancy, physical assaults and forced labour within the domestic sphere and the society at large have been articulated. One notable gap in the literature in this regard has to do with a focus on the emerging trends in which armed groups are exploitatively engaging female bodies in their activities. This study, therefore, relies on interviews with Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Durumi and Lugbe camps, Abuja, two officials of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) working with displaced persons in the selected camps, development partners, documents, and published sources to examine the diverse ways in which the Boko Haram group has objectified the female body (as objects of sexual gratification, procreation, propaganda and profile enhancement, care-giving and gatekeeping as well as weapons of suicide bombing) and the socio-cultural factors fuelling their actions toward females in the northeastern part of Nigeria.
Notes on contributor
Dr. Funmilayo Idowu Agbaje is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies (IPSS), University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Her expertise covers such fields as Gender, Security, Peacemaking, Peace-building, Conflict Management, Negotiation and Social Sector Management. She has been a recipient of national and international scholarships and awards. She is a member of professional and learned societies. She has published academic papers on traditional instruments and processes of peacemaking in Africa, engendering violent conflicts in Africa, colonialism and the shaping of gender in Africa, gender, class and culture, gender-based violence, women and peace education, gender, leadership, social innovation and peacemaking, African feminism and peacemaking, contemporary issues in gender and post-conflict peacebuilding in Africa among others.
Notes
1 Cook, The Rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria.
2 Aguwa, ‘Boko Haram’.
3 Amnesty International, Nigeria: Abducted Women and Girls Forced.
4 Thurston, Boko Haram.
5 Omeni, ‘The Chibok Kidnappings in North-East Nigeria’.
6 Markovic, ‘Suicide Squad’.
7 Ibid.
8 Pearson, ‘Boko Haram and Nigeria’s Female Bombers’.
9 Bloom and Matless, ‘Women as Symbols and Swords’.
10 Abdulbasit and Ankpa, The Boko Haram Reader.
11 Bryson and Bukarti, Boko Haram’s Split.
12 Ahmed, Factional Split Inside Boko Haram Evolving.
13 Ibid.
14 UNFPA, ‘Boko Haram, Women, Young People Key to Stability’.
15 Bryson and Bukarti, Boko Haram’s Split.
16 Pearson, ‘Boko Haram and Nigeria’s Female Bombers’.
17 Ibid.
18 Bloom and Matless, ‘Women as Symbols and Swords’.
19 Pankhurst, Women, Gender and Peacebuilding.
20 Onslow and Schoofs, ‘Peacebuilding with a Gender Perspective’.
21 Adewale, ‘Internally Displaced Persons’.
22 Langton, ‘Beyond a Pragmatic Critique of Reason’.
23 Nussbaum, ‘Objectification’.
24 McKay, ‘Women, Human Security and Peace-Building’.
25 Beltran and Freeman, Hidden in Plain Sight.
26 Puechguirbal, ‘Discourses on Gender, Patriarchy and Resolution 1325’.
27 Sweetman, Gender, Peacebuilding, and Reconstruction.
28 Ham, What is the Cost of a Rumour?
29 Simon-Butler and McSherry, ‘Defining Sexual and Gender-Based Violence’.
30 Aliyu, Moorthy, and Bin Idris, ‘Towards Understanding the Boko Haram Phenomenon’.
31 UNFPA, Reproductive Rights are Human Rights.
32 Agbaje, ‘Traditional Networks and Symbols of Peacemaking’.
33 Unam, Arua, and Out, ‘The Use of Women and Children in Suicide Bombing’.
34 Alcoff, Visible Identities.
35 Ardener, Defining Females.
36 Creswell, Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design Choosing.
37 Cutrufelli, Women of Africa.
38 Hafkin, Women in Africa.
39 Haleh, ‘Women and Wars’.
40 Coy et al., ‘Roads to Nowhere?’
41 McFadden, Reflections on Gender Issues in Africa.
42 Mills, ‘Postcolonial Feminist Theory’.
43 Nnaemeka, ‘Mapping African Feminism’.
44 Oriola, ‘Unwilling Cocoons’.
45 Pearson, ‘Boko Haram and Nigeria’s Female Bombers’.
46 Pearson, Boko Haram Beyond the Headlines.
47 Bloom and Matless, ‘Women as Symbols and Swords’.
48 Zenn and Pearson, ‘Women, Gender and the Evolving Tactics of Boko Haram’.
49 Comolli, Boko Haram.
50 UNESCO, Migration, Displacement and Education.
51 Iyi, The Weaponisation of Women by Boko Haram.
52 Alfred, ‘How Boko Haram Uses Female Suicide Bombers’.
53 Campbell, ‘Islamist Ritual Killing’.
54 Zenn and Pearson, ‘Women, Gender and the Evolving Tactics of Boko Haram’.
55 Berents, ‘Hashtagging Girlhood’.
56 Attah, ‘Boko Haram and Sexual Terrorism’.
57 Abimbola and Adesole, ‘Domestic Terrorism and Boko Haram Insurgency’.
58 Zenn and Pearson, ‘Women, Gender and the Evolving Tactics of Boko Haram’.
59 Charlesworth, ‘Are Women Peaceful?’
60 Steward, ‘An Unprecedented Use of Female Suicide Bombers’.
61 Langton, ‘Beyond a Pragmatic Critique of Reason’.
62 Nussbaum, ‘Objectification’.
63 MacKinnon, Towards a Feminist Theory of the State.
64 Fredrickson and Roberts, ‘Objectification Theory’.
65 Szymanski, Moffitt, and Carr, ‘Sexual Objectification of Women’.
66 Mirth, ‘Experiences of Internally Displaced Persons’.
67 Grinyer, ‘The Anonymity of Research Participants’.
68 Bryson and Bukarti, Boko Haram’s Split.
69 Darlton and Asal, ‘Is It Ideology or Desperation’.
70 Kirby, ‘Rethinking War/Rape Feminism’.
71 Darlton and Asal, ‘Is It Ideology or Desperation’.
72 Kunal Dutta, ‘Boko Haram has Abducted, Raped and Enslaved’.
73 Charlesworth, ‘Are Women Peaceful?’
74 Adam Nossiter, ‘Boko Haram Militants Raped Hundreds of Female Captives in Nigeria’.
75 United Nations, ‘Condemning Use of Sexual Violence’.
76 MSF, ‘International Activity Report’.
77 United Nations, ‘Condemning Use of Sexual Violence’.
78 Attah, ‘Boko Haram and Sexual Terrorism’.
79 Bugaje, Ogunrinde, and Faruk, ‘Child Sexual Abuse in Zaria, Northwestern Nigeria’.
80 United Nations, ‘Condemning Use of Sexual Violence’.
81 Bloom and Matless, ‘Women as Symbols and Swords’.
82 Thurston, Boko Haram.
83 Oriola, ‘Unwilling Cocoons’.
84 Kubai, ‘Between Justice and Reconciliation’.
85 Pricopi, ‘Tactics Used by the Terrorist Organisation Boko Haram’.
86 Charlesworth, ‘Are Women Peaceful?’
87 Attah, ‘Boko Haram and Sexual Terrorism’.
88 Strickland and Duvvury, Gender Equity and Peacebuilding, From Rhetoric to Reality.
89 Nisa and Saenong, Female Suicide Bombers.
90 Warner and Matless, Exploding Stereotypes.
91 BBC News, ‘Nigeria Dapchi Abductions’.
92 Warner and Matless, Exploding Stereotypes.
93 Markovic, ‘Suicide Squad’.
94 Pearson, ‘Boko Haram and Nigeria’s Female Bombers’.
95 Bloom and Matless, ‘Women as Symbols and Swords’.
96 BBC News, ‘Nigeria Dapchi Abductions’.
97 Walker, “Eat the Heart of the Infidel”.
98 Zena, ‘Impossible Women and Boko Haram’.
99 Berents, ‘Hashtagging Girlhood’.
100 Zenn and Pearson, ‘Women, Gender and the Evolving Tactics of Boko Haram’.
101 Ahmed, Factional Split Inside Boko Haram Evolving.
102 Pearson, ‘Boko Haram and Nigeria’s Female Bombers’.
103 Warner and Chapin, Targeted Terror.
104 Pearson, Boko Haram Beyond the Headlines.
105 Atta, Gudaku, and Wesley, ‘Violence Against Christian Women and Children in North-Eastern Nigeria Since 1999’.
106 Cummings, ‘A Jihadi Takeover Bid in Nigeria?’
107 Bloom, ‘Female Suicide Bombers’.
108 Bloom, ‘Death Becomes Her’.
109 Atran, ‘The Moral Logic and Growth of Suicide Terrorism’.
110 Warner and Chapin, Targeted Terror.
111 Dara and Ragnhild, ‘Do States Delegate Shameful Violence to Militias?’
112 Atta, Gudaku, and Wesley, ‘Violence Against Christian Women and Children in North-Eastern Nigeria Since 1999’.
113 Bukarti, ‘“Boko Haram: How Perpetrators Impersonate Victims” Commentary’.
114 Strickland and Duvvury, Gender Equity and Peacebuilding, From Rhetoric to Reality.
115 Sweetman, Gender, Peacebuilding, and Reconstruction.
116 Pankhurst, Women, Gender and Peacebuilding.
117 Onslow and Schoofs, ‘Peacebuilding with a Gender Perspective’.
118 United Nations, ‘United Nations Security Council Resolution’.
119 MacKinnon, Feminism Unmodified.
120 Bisant, ‘Overcoming Institutional and Legal Barriers that Prevent Abused Females’.
121 Makama, ‘Patriarchy and Gender Inequality in Nigeria’.