Media and Communication Ph.D. Dissertations

Navigating Daily Activities During a Health Crisis: A Qualitative Analysis of the Lived Experiences of Nigerian Women During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Date of Award

2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

Department

Media and Communication

First Advisor

Radhika Gajjala (Committee Chair)

Second Advisor

Kerri Knippen (Other)

Third Advisor

Yanqin Lu (Committee Member)

Fourth Advisor

Lara Martin Lengel (Committee Member)

Abstract

This dissertation looks at the coping strategies used by Nigerian women amid a health crisis. The study assesses women's lived experiences in Nigeria during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak and the imposition of lockdown. In times of crisis, whether political, religious, or health-related, Nigerian women, like other African women, are invariably depicted as victims. The current study describes suffrage ideology and the difficulties that Nigerian women face because of patriarchy and marginalization. The study explored complicated identities to critically appraise women in Nigeria based on their lived experiences. This study demonstrates how recognizing oppressive policies during the lockdown assisted women in developing coping skills and navigating a crisis. During the lockdown, when movement was severely restricted, the government failed to address women's health concerns, gender-based violence, and economic growth. Even though the interviews were centered on African feminism and intersectionality, the data collected and evaluated provided little support for these two theories. The study conducted interviews and examined social media postings and comments using Grounded Theory, Thematic Analysis, and Social Media Analysis as methods. Inductive interviews were done, and emergent themes were found. The inductive in-depth interviews were conducted with a variety of women who lived in Nigeria during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (late 2019 to mid-2020) and the implementation of the lockdown to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Atlas.ti, a qualitative computational analysis tool, was used to code and arrange the data from the interviews into themes. The second batch of data was gathered using keywords influenced by the previous set of data analysis's emergent topics. The data were structured to include female social media postings and comments on YouTube and Twitter. The study discovered that two underlying principles impact the behavior, attitude, expectation, and responsibility demonstrated by the women questioned and the remarks examined to successfully cope with the risks of the COVID-19 epidemic. Resilience and adaptation are two of these notions. The data suggest that Nigerian women negotiate crises by leveraging support for other women, obtaining knowledge for self-orientation, successfully controlling their emotions, and exploring methods to lessen tension while they traverse repressive governmental policies and systems.

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