Male Survivors of Gender-Based Violence Speak Out on Experiences in Nigerian Hospitals
- Male nurses have spoken out after experiencing verbal and emotional gender-based violence in Nigerian hospitals
- Survivors disclosed how discrimination and public humiliation from female colleagues have affected their professional integrity
- Staff also emphasised training, orientation, and workplace harmony as key to reducing abuse in healthcare
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Gender-based violence has become a daily reality for many individuals, as people face different forms of abuse from friends, family, and colleagues.
Source: Getty Images
Male nurses face discrimination from female colleagues through verbal and emotional gender-based violence.
However, many people assume that gender-based violence affects only women and not men, leaving male victims to endure trauma and pain in silence.
In the nursing profession, male nurses are often regarded with a high level of respect due to their scarcity in the field.
As a result, they play vital roles in healthcare facilities, performing tasks that female nurses may sometimes find more challenging.
How male nurses experience gender-based violence
Speaking to Legit.ng correspondent, male nurses who preferred anonymity expressed how they faced different forms of gender based violence from female colleagues, which is strongly against the ethics of the nursing profession.
"I have experienced a verbal form of gender based violence from a female colleague some time ago. I was passing by, and she intentionally called me a 'student nurse' and instructed me to carry out some tasks."
"I felt diminished, underrated, and disgraced because other colleagues were standing close by, and they all heard what she uttered. I had to obey her orders because she was my senior, and I didn't want to prove disrespectful before my other colleagues."
"I felt so bad because she shouldn't have called me that; everyone deserves respect despite age, religion, tribe, or level of professionalism. That word alone made me feel stereotyped and unhappy, which is also an emotional gender based violence to me as an individual," he said.
He advised that addressing gender-based violence should start at home, with families teaching children to respect and value one another without discrimination.
Source: Getty Images
Can training reduce abuse in healthcare?
Another male nurse noted that gender-based violence is often common in professional settings, particularly when mistakes are made or when certain tasks are not performed properly.
His words:
"I have experienced verbal gender based violence from a female senior colleague; instead of her calling my attention for a correction, she bounced on me publicly, and that really affected my integrity a lot. I felt bad, and to date, whenever I see the person, I still feel bad, because that was a verbal form of gender based violence."
"Male nurses usually tolerate a lot more than the female nurses, and whenever negative utterances are being made to them, they tend to control it, to avoid any rifts between the male and female nurses."
Speaking on the changes he would like to see going forward, he said:
"If we can have a sufficient number of male staff in the healthcare facility, it will reduce the form of abuse, because most of the abuse coming from the female nurses is mostly due to stress. Therefore, if we can have frequent orientations or staff trainings, workshops, and seminars to help our mental state, it will help us manage stress very well."
Addressing how hospital management can promote mutual respect amongst staff regardless of gender, he noted:
"The health sector should do away with segregation and bias among staff because every health worker is there because of the patient, and we recognize the patients as kings who need to be treated as special people. If there is a harmonious relationship, everyone will respect boundaries."
"I will advise male nurses to learn how to tolerate the other professionals; they should learn to address every issue with caution whenever they face any form of gender based violence from colleagues."
Woman killed over witchcraft allegation
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that a woman was brutally beaten to death in Dume, Song LGA, after being accused of witchcraft. This, however, ignited public anger over rising gender-based violence in Adamawa.
Adamawa police confirmed 23 gender-based violence cases in 2025, including three adult r@pes and 20 child defilements, showing how women and minors continue to face abuse and discrimination within communities.
Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
