Mediation, as an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, offers a culturally sensitive, costeffective, and less adversarial approach to marital conflicts. However, its effectiveness in protecting and promoting women’s rights remains contested due to socio-cultural, legal, and institutional challenges. Marital conflicts in Nigeria often involves complex social, cultural, and legal dimensions, where traditional litigation can be costly, time-consuming and adversarial; mediation, as a less formal and more conciliatory approach, has gained prominence for its potential to preserve relationships and provide amicable settlements. However, the intersection of mediation with entrenched patriarchal norms raises critical questions about the protection and promotion of women’s rights within this process. This article explores the conceptual framework of mediation and women’s rights, analyze the Nigerian context, and evaluates the extent to which mediation supports or undermines women’s rights in marital disputes. The study adopts the qualitative research methodology, focusing on literature reviews document analysis, observations and in-depth interviews with legal practitioners and women who have been involved in mediation process to gain an in-depth understanding of mediation in resolving marital disputes and its impacts on women’s rights in Nigeria. Employing a qualitative research design, the findings reveal that while mediation is valued for its cultural sensitivity and efficiency, it frequently perpetuates gendered power imbalance that disadvantage women as seen by authors regarding patriarchal influences in dispute resolution process. This article argues for the urgent need to reform mediation frameworks to integrate gender-sensitive safeguards that uphold women’s rights, thereby contributing to the evolving discourse on gender justices and alternative disputes resolution in Nigeria. This research concludes that mediation can be an effective tool for resolving marital disputes in Nigeria, but only if it is reformed to incorporate gender-sensitive practices and robust legal protections for women. Recommendations include legislative reforms, capacity building for mediators and stronger institutional support to ensure mediation outcomes uphold women’s rights and promote gender equality. The study contributes to the discourse on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) in Nigeria by highlighting the need to balance cultural practices with human rights imperatives.
Ucheagwu-Okoye et al. (Tue,) studied this question.