Assessment of Knowledge, Attitude and Experience of Sexual Violence among Female Employees in Sokoto Metropolis, Northwest Nigeria.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the knowledge, attitude and experiences of sexual violence among female employees in Sokoto metropolis. Multistage sampling technique was used to select 191 participants and a set of pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from the participants. Data was analysed using IBM SPSS version 20. The mean age of the respondents was 28.9years ±6 with 102(53%) of them aged between 20-30 years. Up to 112(63.6%) of them were unmarried, 127(73%) were Muslims and 96(54.5%) in the upper socio-economic class (SEC). About 50% of respondents in both formal and informal settings had good knowledge of sexual violence and up to 36% and 64% of respondents in the formal and informal settings respectively have positive attitude towards sexual violence (SV). Overall prevalence of SV in the workplace was 63.8% (N=113) and significant predictors of SV in the work place include tribe (p=0.006), work setting (p=0.02) and society's perception of SV (P <0.001). Respondents in this study showed high levels of awareness and knowledge regarding SV in the workplace. The study revealed a high prevalence of SV in the workplace especially among females in formal settings with several factors including, perception of the society on sexual violence and working in the formal sector were found to have influenced respondents' experience of SV in the workplace. There is the need, therefore for the government and relevant stake holders to put in place measures to curb SV in the workplace and protect victims of such practices with relevant legislations.