Women and their househelps: The cruelty must stop

By Fred Chukwuelobe I don’t mind being called a misogynist or accused of generalising on this matter. Frankly, I think we have reached a point where somebody has to speak out loudly against the inhuman treatment some Igbo women mete out to their domestic servants. And while we are at it, we must also call out their husbands, particularly those who watch helplessly as their wives turn other people’s children into household slaves.

Some of these men are either complicit or simply too weak to call their wives to order. For quite some time now, stories of Igbo women who mercilessly maltreat their domestic servants have been making the rounds. The latest is the disturbing incident in Ogidi, Anambra State, where a woman allegedly beat her 10-year-old domestic servant so mercilessly that a neighbour had to intervene to rescue the child.

Reports identified the girl as Chizoba Ifeanyi and the alleged perpetrator as her aunt, Mrs Adaobi Agbonta. The incident reportedly occurred because the little girl refused to sweep the house. Imagine that! What manner of woman beats a ten-year-old child to that extent over an ordinary household chore? What exactly does she expect from a child of that age?

And what would have happened if that neighbour had not intervened? Unfortunately, this is not the first time we have heard such stories. In July 2020, Nigerians were horrified by the story of 10-year-old Nneoma Nnadi in Enugu. Her employer, Ifeoma Ozougwu, was accused of inserting a six-inch nail into the child’s skull, using hot pressing irons on her body and subjecting her to other forms of torture.

Her husband was also arrested in connection with the incident. It was one of those stories that made one wonder whether some people were actually human beings. In May 2023, another case emerged from Nkpor, Anambra State, involving an eight-year-old househelp who was allegedly brutally beaten by her employer, Chinyere Ifesinachi. The child reportedly sustained multiple injuries.

Then there was the March 2018 case in Lagos involving a woman, Nkeiruka Ngwu, who was arrested for allegedly using a hot pressing iron and hot water on her 10-year-old househelp, Chioma Samuel, a child reportedly brought from Abia State after the death of her father. These are just some of the reported cases. And before anybody accuses me of deliberately picking on Igbo women, let me acknowledge that similar incidents have occurred in other parts of the country.

In March 2026, Premium Times reported the arrest of a woman in Cross River State over the alleged assault of her five-year-old niece, who was reportedly being used as a domestic helper. In Delta State, a woman was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment in 2020 for using a hot kitchen knife to disfigure the mouth of her nine-year-old housemaid. I am not aware of any reliable national statistics establishing which ethnic group records the highest number of such abuses.

But the frequency of disturbing stories involving women in our part of the country should worry us. We cannot continue pretending that nothing is happening. Thank goodness I am Igbo, so nobody should waste time accusing me of Igbophobia. I am talking about a problem that deserves to be confronted within our society. And I am certainly not suggesting that all Igbo women behave this way.

Far from it. There are countless decent, compassionate and responsible Igbo women who treat their domestic workers with love and dignity. But those who engage in these atrocities must be called out. What exactly is the matter with some of these women? Why are they so wicked to other people’s children? These are children born to poor parents, just as their own children were born.

Some have lost their parents. Others come from homes where their parents cannot afford to provide for them. They are sent to live with relatives or brought into households where they are expected to receive care, assistance and, in some cases, an opportunity to go to school. Instead, some end up living like slaves. They are made to wake up before everybody else, cook, wash, clean, fetch water, look after babies and perform virtually every household chore.

They eat last, sleep last and are often the first to be blamed whenever anything goes wrong. Some are fed with leftovers or denied food altogether for the slightest offence. Others are denied access to education and decent clothing. Once you see some of these women and their children on an outing to events and even church services, you can easily identify the househelp.

The difference in their dressing alone tells a story. The madam’s children are beautifully dressed, while the little girl or boy accompanying them looks like somebody picked up from the street. I recall seeing a woman who took her children to a fast-food restaurant. While the children sat comfortably at the table enjoying their lunch, their domestic servant sat somewhere nearby, clutching madam’s handbag and watching them eat.

She was not even treated as someone who d