Gender Inequality and Women Participation in Politics: the Nigerian Experience Scheme
CHAPTER ONE
Objective of the study
The main aim of the study is to examine the impact gender discrimination on rural development in Lagos State, Nigeria while the specific objectives of this study include;
- analyze gender discrimination in today’s economy focusing specifically on the working environment,
- Identify factors responsible for gender discrimination in the society
- Identifying factors affecting rural development
- examine the effect of gender discrimination on rural development.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
The Concept of Gender Discrimination
The Black’s Law Dictionary defined discrimination as “a practice that confers privileges on certain class or that denies privileges to a certain class because of race, age sex, nationality, religion, or handicap or differential treatment, especially a failure to treat all persons equally when no reasonable distinction can be found between those favoured and those not favoured”.
Discrimination is growing more sophisticated and the need for Nigeria to start initiating legislation that tends to incorporate all forms of discrimination not hitherto provided for in her 1999 Constitution is necessary. There is no doubt that the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 under Section 42 gives every citizen the right to freedom from discrimination. Under this section, ground of discrimination relates to particular community, ethnic group, place of origin, sex, religion or political opinion.
Discrimination is considered as resulting from the creation, maintenance and perpetuation of structures of inequality against women as opposed to men. The process of engineering transformation involves both the manipulation of rules, norms and procedures as well as organization for political action by women to protect what rights they have enhance the quality of protection and increase the comprehensiveness of the rights to which they are entitled. Currently, the Nigerian House of Representatives‟ Committee on Human rights is holding consultations around a bill known as Discrimination Prohibition and Enforcement of Equality Act. The purport of the bill is to adopt a strategy in the fight against discrimination in Nigeria. The Anti Discrimination Bill marks the new era of a properly defined law on anti discrimination in Nigeria. This is a law meant to extend the laws covering discrimination in Nigeria particularly discrimination on grounds of: ethnic origin, sex, gender, age, religion, marital status, family status and conviction that have been pardoned etc. This Bill if passed is meant to give all Nigerians equal opportunity with other individuals to make for themselves the lives that they are able to have and to have their needs accommodated consistent with their duties and obligations as members of the society.
Definition of Gender Inequality
Our definition for gender inequality arises from reading of various social sciences literature, including economics: it manifests as hierarchical genders relations, with men above women, and women being regarded as inferior and less valuable solely by virtue of their sex. Although the literature predominantly focuses on women we recognize that men in less developed countries also suffer from behaviors and policies that foster hierarchical gender relations. Gender hierarchy is manifested in family relationships, inheritance laws and customs; valuations of women’s work and its general invisibility; and the power to make decisions in society, the family, work place, religious andother cultural institutions. It is apparent in the relative opportunities available to women and girls fordevelopment, education, health and nutrition and in the pattern of violence between the sexes. Suchhierarchy is generally accepted by both genders, and it is not normally questioned within its culturalcontext.Gender equality, in contrast, is expressed in attitudes, beliefs, behaviors and policies thatreflect an equal valuing and provision of opportunities for both genders. Further definitions of genderinequality can be found in United Nations declarations of human rights beginning in 1948. In 1979, theConvention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) wasadopted by the United Nations General Assembly. As of June 2003 174 countries – 90% of the UNmembers – are party to the convention. The convention defines discrimination as “any distinction,exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex….in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil orany other field.” Lack of discrimination in this sense could be seen as equal status between genders.As opposed to inter-gender power hierarchy or a separatism where everyone is self-interested and autonomous, in gender equality all individuals hold a similar level of power and treat other people with respect and consideration, regardless of their sex (Nelson & England, 2002). Our framework for understanding gender relationships therefore sees them as falling along a spectrum, with gender power hierarchy and restrictions at one end and equal opportunities and equal value for both sexes at the other. We will next gather statistical data across the nations to get a perspective on the economic significance and nature of gender hierarchy in today’s world. Where possible we also report the changes over time.
CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY
This chapter covers the research methods which comprise research design, population of the study, sample size and sampling techniques, instrumentation and method of data collection.
Research Design
This study employs descriptive survey research and Kothari (2003) holds that the main objective of descriptive research is to describe or ascertain the existed or current status of events, situation or a thing as it exists. It can be said in crystal clear that resolution of conflicts and promoting of peace is the main issue of the day. It affected every walk of life, locally, nationally, and internationally. As Farooq (2001) is of the opinion that questionnaire is the most suitable and extensively utilised tool by the investigator for the collecting of data or information about past, present, and future proceedings. The study adopted a survey research design to investigate the gender
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
This chapter covers the analysis of results which includes the descriptive statistics and the inferential statistics. The chapter also includes interpretation of results.
Descriptive Analysis
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
The study investigated gender discrimination and rural development in Lagos State. In achieving the research objectives, critical questions on what gender discrimination is were raised, the factors affecting gender discrimination were examined, the factors leading to rural development were also looked at while the degree to which gender discrimination affect rural development was tested. The survey research design was employed and six ministries in the Lagos State were surveyed. Gender has been an important issue subjected to numerous discussions in the development paradigm over several decades and has now been transformed into a subject of multifarious sociological interests. This study critically examines the transformation of this dialogue over the time and its implications in the improvement of the lives of rural men and women. The theoretical arguments for the necessity of introducing gender development strategies in order to improve the specific needs of rural women who are marginalized due to the magnitude of patriarchal dominations in the development administration has been field-tested in two sample locations where gender neutral and gender specific development projects have been implemented in Lagos State.
Conclusion
The continued adoption of recruitment, promotion evaluation, and compensation practices based on gender considerations need not persist into the nearest future. This research work has brought to light some of the problems of gender discrimination associated in the Nigerian work environment. It was generally discovered that most advanced countries make substantially better use of their workforce and increase output per capita by discouraging gender discrimination in the labor market. From the findings provided by the hypotheses tested, educational acquisition is believed to play an important role in eradicating gender discrimination. Also, cultural factors give rise to gender discrimination. Finally, gender discrimination plays a significant role in the employment process of Nigerian organizations. The study has dispassionately captured the present subordinate position of Nigeria women in the culture of male supremacy exacerbated by patriarchy capitalist ideology, foreign religions and the sex-biased legal structure. In addition, it also identified the crucial roles women played in the process of community development as well as the challenges impeding on their contributions. It is gratifying to note that at the individual level, the women in Nigeria are not only responding to changes around them but are also reshaping their own reality. For example, familial relations tend to be losing their hold on the individual life. Many women now marry for love and not because they are forced and freely go out of a relationship when it seems socially unbearable. Law reforms giving recognition to women’s rights to land and property is the first step necessary to promote gender equality in land property rights. The law as an instrument of social change needs to be supported by an efficient law enforcement mechanism devoid of corruption. In addition to law reforms, the only way to meaningfully contribute to the emancipation of woman in Nigeria, is to broaden access to quality education which will in-turn advance their position in society. Attempts are also currently being made to expose girls to science education in addition to various empowerment programmes at all levels of government. Finally, although there is still much to be done in bridging the gap between the men and the women, it is cheering to note that the woman’s question has come on-board the national and international agenda for appreciate attention.
Recommendations
The idea that women and men are equal and that individuals have freedom of choice is clearly the dominant discourse at the present time. Gender discimination does still exist despite the dominance of the laws that emphasise individual freedom of choice. It is therefore of great concern that gender discrimination may become invisible and hence ‘not discussible’. Therefore, in line with the research findings, the following recommendations may be required to improve the conditions of women:
- The House of Representatives should consider the adoption of a bill that constitutes strategies to fight against discrimination in Nigeria. This law must extend laws covering discrimination in Nigeria particularly on grounds of: sex/gender and other factors like ethnic origin, age, religion, marital status, family status etc. This would be a giant step to curb the wide spread discriminatory practices currently being experienced.
- More research work should be carried out to pointedly identify areas where there are severe cases on discrmination which may have been silenced and help should be proferred by the government, government bodies, non-governmental bodies, labor unions and Civil Liberties Organizations.
- It can also be noted that gender discrimination has been condoned by the ignorant people who may have no idea of the fact that their rights are being violated. Therefore, it is necessary that empowerment is given to the women in order for them to acknowledge what rights they have as civilians and citizens of their country.
- Attempts should be made to change the prevailing norms, customs and traditions that create an environment for discrimination of women to take place. This could be done by conscious efforts being made to educate traditional rulers and religious leaders as regards the benefits of educating and empowering women.
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