Assessing the impacts of conflicting gender ideologies on domestic violence: a case study of Nigerian-immigrant women in Canada

The thesis investigated how conflicting gender ideologies influenced Nigerian-immigrant women's experiences of domestic violence in Canada. Nigeria, the participants' country of heritage, practices patriarchal social stratification while Canada, the country of current residence, has egalitarian structures. Using a qualitative research orientation and non-probability purposive snowballing sampling procedures with ten (10) Nigerian immigrant women to Canada, data collection procedures involved electronic phone interviews. The data analysis process involved transcription, categorization, coding, and theme generation by the researcher. The nine major themes identified that the study participants experiences a change or shift in gender ideologies towards more egalitarian ideologies while some of their partners did not experience the same change, thereby resulting in conflicting gender ideologies that influenced their experiences of domestic violence. The thesis concluded with recommendations for culturally sensitive services that combat domestic violence, and ease adjustment into Canadian communities for the study participants and immigrant women in general.