Cedaw and Women's Rights: Assessing Knowledge and Practice among Women in Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

This research assesses women's knowledge and practice of principles on the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). A total of one hundred and seventy-nine women participated in the survey. A self-developed questionnaire measuring women's knowledge and practice was used to collect data. Three hypotheses were formulated and tested using Pearson r and one-way ANOVA. The results indicated no statistical relationship between women's knowledge and practice r = .128; p> 0.05. Further analysis revealed that there was significant difference in educational qualifications and level of practice F= 8.615, df(2); p< .05. This implies that level of practice of women's rights may not necessarily be a function of exposure to the CEDAW document but other source of information sharing on women's rights. It was recommended that domestication of CEDAW and using advocacy, media, government and non-governmental organizations to intensify more effort in the area of information dissemination about CEDAW and all it represents would make the goal realizable.