Download Journal of Strategic and Development Studies, Vol. I, Number I, April

Journal of Strategic and Development Studies, Vol. I, Number I, April,
2016
ISSN 2536-6742
THE PLACE AND ROLE OF WOMEN IN CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN
SOCIETY: WHAT HAS CHANGED AND WHAT HAS NOT
Adaora Osondu-Oti, PhD
Department of International Relations and Diplomacy
Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria
E-mail: [email protected]
It is a well known fact that Nigerian society just like many other African societies is
highly patriarchal in nature. Gender roles and relations are well separated and
defined. For instance, there are roles women are meant to perform and men are not.
There are also certain limitations to women’s participation in public life and even
pursuit of career, as the society believes that women’s lives are to be lived managing
the home. Undeniably many of these cultural/traditional norms and patterns have not
only been demeaning and challenging for women when compared to the men but have
limited the significant contribution of women in the societal development. However,
changes are being witnessed as more Nigerian women are now challenging the status
quo with the increase in educational attainment. According to the 2008 National
Demographic Health Survey data, 54% of women age 15–49 and 77% of men 15–59
are literate. Nigerian women now hold important political offices; for instance in the
present government administration, there are 7 women Senators out of 109 and 19
women House of Representative members out of 360. In spite of the changes (though
minimal), there are still things that have not changed especially in rural communities
with regards to gender relations. For instance in such community development
projects where community members combine their efforts with that of government or
non-government bodies to improve and develop community socially, economically
and culturally, women are hardly involved in project discussion and execution. In
most cases, women are not allowed to partake in community meetings and gatherings,
and their voices, expertise and experiences are still left unheard. It is against this
backdrop that this paper seeks to examine the place and role of women in Community
Development Projects with particular reference to Amoli Community in Enugu State,
Nigeria where various community development projects (such as provision of pipe
borne water, rural electrification, road construction etc) are ongoing.
Key Words: Women, Role, Community Development, Projects, Amoli, Enugu,
Nigeria
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Introduction
It is a well known fact that Nigerian society just like many other African
societies is highly patriarchal in nature. Gender roles and relations are well separated
and defined. There are roles women are meant to perform and men are not. There are
also certain limitations to women’s participation in public life and even pursuit of
career, as the society believes that women’s lives are to be lived managing the home.
Undeniably many of these cultural/traditional norms and patterns have not only been
demeaning and challenging for women when compared to the men but have limited
the significant contribution of women in the societal development.
However, in the last few decades, there have been noticeable changes in the
role of women in the society, shown in women acquiring more education and
attaining career heights. Over the years, there has been a marked increase in the
number of women enrolling for university management courses and obtaining
employment. Women are now increasingly educated and hold more jobs worldwide
than ever before (Akanbi and Salami, 2011). In Nigeria today, women make up
almost 50% of the labour force (Akanbi and Salami, 2011). According to the 2008
National Demographic Health Survey data, 54% of women age 15-49 and 77% of
men 15–59 are literate. This is an increase from the 2003 NDHS when 48% of women
and 73% of men in the same age groups were literate (National Population
Commission and ICF Macro, 2009). It is quite impressive when compared with the
‘backward’ position of Nigerian women two decades ago.
Until recently, women are expected to be homemakers with the traditional and
socially approved roles of child bearing, housekeeping and farming. Today, Nigerian
women are found in every aspect of development and in every sector of the economy.
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Nigerian women are now Managing Directors/Chief Executive Officers, Professors,
Pilot, Engineers, Accountants, Lawyers, Ministers and Doctors etc. There are also
fields dominated by women such as Nursing, Secretarial work, Fashion Designing and
other related jobs. Nigerian women have also joined politics. At the moment, women
holding political positions in Nigeria are increasing: in the present government 13
women Ministers were appointed,1 11 women Ambassadors (out of 93 Ambassadors),
7 Senators (out of 109) and 19 women (out of 360 members in the Nigerian house of
representative). In academics, Nigerian women are also represented even though men
still outnumber them. For instance, in 2006, University of Ibadan had an academic
staff strength of 3081, out of which 2574 were males and 507 females; Obafemi
Awolowo University had 1207 academic staff members out of which 210 were
females (Ogbogu, 2011). Even though the number of Nigerian women in all the fields
above is still minimal compare to men, there is still hope as more women are now
attaining higher education. Clearly, more women are being empowered to take the
mantle of leadership in organisations as against discrimination, stereotyping,
prejudice and unfairness that characterised the old order (Eagly and Carli, 2003). In
spite of the changes (though minimal), there are still areas that have not changed with
regards to gender relations and roles, especially in rural settings in Nigeria. For
instance in community leadership and development projects, women are hardly
involved in discussion and project execution. Men often assume, are elected or
appointed into leadership roles in issues involving the entire communities. In most
cases, rural women are not allowed to partake in community meetings and gatherings,
1
Note that among the 9 ministers sacked by the President, Goodluck Jonathan on 11 th September,
2013, four women ministers were involved: Minister of Education, Professor Rufai; Minister of
Housing and Development, Ama Peppple; Minister of State for Defence, Olusola Obada; Minister of
Environment, Hadiza Mailafia
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and their voices, expertise and experiences are still left unheard, due to the patriarchal
nature of Nigerian society. Women are sometimes ‘forbidden’ to appear in forum
where community issues are deliberated, thus being in positions of authority or
community leadership is still a distant dream. The ‘old’ perception that a woman’s
place is in the home, and should not be extended outside still exists. It is against this
backdrop that this paper seeks to examine the place and role of women in community
development projects with particular reference to Amoli community in Enugu State,
Nigeria where various community development projects (such as provision of pipe
borne water, rural electrification, road construction etc) are ongoing. The major
argument of the paper is that even though changes are seen in Nigeria with regards to
women participation and inclusion in society matters, women in some rural
communities in Nigeria are still socially constrained, as they are often separated from
positions of authority and leadership.
With introduction as Section I, Section 2 examines gender construction from
the perspective of social role theory. Section 3 discusses women in community
development, with particular reference to Amoli women in Enugu State. Section 4
concludes and makes recommendations.
Gender/Social Role Theory
Before examining the gender/social role theory, it is important to understand
the meaning of the term role. A role is the expected behavior associated with a status.
And a status is a category or position a person occupies that is a significant
determinant of how she or he will be defined and treated. Roles are performed
according to social norms, shared rules that guide people’s behavior in specific
situations. Roles may be achieved or ascribed or they can be accidental in different
situations. An achieved role is a position that a person assumes voluntarily which
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reflects personal skills, abilities, and efforts. An ascribed role is a position assigned to
individuals or groups without regard for merit but because of certain traits beyond
their control, (Stark, 2007), and is usually forced upon a person. The most important
ascribed status is gender. Gender has acquired a social meaning where the word now
defines how male and female relates in the society and how duties are allocated on the
basis of one’s sex. Thus, gender role theory has been used to explain the behaviour of
women and men, and also to ascribe functions and roles in the society.
Gender role theory is grounded in the supposition that individuals socially as
males and females tend to occupy different ascribed roles within social structures and
tend to be judged against divergent expectations for how they ought to behave. As a
consequence, the theory predicts that male and females will develop different skills
and attitudes and that they will behave differently. Given that gender is socially
constructed, the idea of social role emanated. Historically, social role theory
developed during the 1980s as a gender related theory. Eagly in 1987 published a
book on the theory titled, ‘Sex Differences in Social Behavior: a Social Role
Interpretation.’ Eagly (1987) saw that social roles that regulate behavior in the society
had not been explored and then proceeded to show how a theory of sex-typed
behavior could explain differences in men and women. Eagly (1987) used gender
roles as a term for the social roles that a society designates to men and women. Social
role theory uses a structural approach to sex differences. Its argument is that people
have social roles based on gender and that structural pressures (family, organizations,
and communities) have caused men and women to behave in different ways, making
gender roles to be stereotypic. Thus, these stereotypic gender roles are formed by
social norms that apply to people of a certain category or social position. According to
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Eagly (1987) society has shared expectations about women, and these expectations
form female gender roles, and also shared expectations about men form male gender
roles. Social role theory is the major theory that explained why gender stereotypes are
confirmed (Eagly, 1987). Social role theory proposes that one reason gender
stereotypes are confirmed is because women and men act in accordance with their
social roles, which are often segregated along gender lines (Eagly, 1987). Ordinarily,
gender differences associate women and men with a variety of behavioral and
attitudinal patterns. Thus, women and men are expected to behave, act and function in
certain ways based on social construction of sex. For instance, women are socially
assigned caregivers and nurturers, and thus are associated feminine traits and
behaviours. Men on the other hand, are more likely to work outside of the home, more
frequently exhibit traditionally masculine behaviors such as assertiveness and
leadership qualities. These traditional gender roles have helped sustain gender
stereotypes what men should or should not do and, what women should and should
not do.
Women and Community Development
Community Development Exchange (CDE), defines community development
as the process of developing active and sustainable communities. Community
development is also an inclusive programme targeted towards the betterment of a
certain community. It is therefore means that it should mainstream gender. Usually,
community development involves influencing power structures to remove barriers
that prevent people from participating in the issues that affect their lives. Women’s
participation in community development thus becomes vital within the aspect of
gender mainstreaming. The UN decade for women (1976-1985) highlighted the
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importance of women in the development process, establishing that women perform
two thirds of the world’s work, yet receive only ten percent of the world’s income,
and own only one percent of the means of production (Mosse, 1993). Women have
had relative powerlessness in decision making about development but in many cases
workloads and problems have increased due to development activities (Gabriel,
1991). As it had been pointed out by Lovel and Feuerstein (1985), that it is strange
that when people think about ‘community’ they often think mostly about women and
children and when people think about ‘development’ they often think mostly of men.
Managing community affairs in many African countries have been the domain
of men. In community administration, there are notable gender imbalances. Rural
women have been left out in local politics and community management. Even though
times are changing and there is now an acceptance that women can and do play a vital
role in community development, particularly in contributing to the achievement of
community security, growth and progress, their impact are hardly recognised. In some
communities, women have established themselves as leaders in their respective
women groups and have brought positive change to their communities. For instance,
some women have used their community women association to raise funds for needy
members and assist other women to train their children in school. Devising what they
called self help groups (SHGs), women mobilize their own savings, and use it as loans
to group members (IFAD, 2012). Earnings from interest income are converted into
group equity. SHGs managing their own savings have been particularly successful
with rural women.
It is also known that in rural communities (and urban communities too), not
only is it the women who usually care for both the young and the old, but also they
procure key resources such as water and fuel and are involved in agriculture and
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livestock production, and engage in trading activities all which are necessary for the
survival of the family unit. Notwithstanding their roles, the contributions of women in
community development have been neglected and sidelined. The sidelining of women
is even more visible in rural areas. For instance, women are responsible for 60%-80%
of agricultural production; women perform 90% of the work of processing food crops
and providing household water and fuel wood; women are responsible for 80% of the
work of food storage and transport from farm to village; women do 90% of the work
of hoeing and weeding; women do 60% of the work of harvesting and marketing;
women are the backbone of rural development, they provide for the general needs of
rural households, bring home heavy loads of firewood and carry buckets of water
from far-away water sources, and yet they are often not consulted on community
development issues (World Bank, 2002).
In the case of women in Amoli community in Enugu State, sidelining women
in community development projects is obvious. In the community, for instance, many
community development projects have been ongoing since 2011, when the incumbent
government administration was elected into power. These projects include the
provision of pipe borne water, rural electrification and road construction. The
handling, organisation, supervision and management of funds for these projects are in
the hands of men. Ordinarily, community projects are handed over to community
leaders and chiefs, which are all male. Women groups are often left out with the
perception that issues of decision making and leadership in communities are for men.
In an interaction with the traditional ruler in Amoli, I was meant to understand that
not even a single woman or women group were represented at the initial deliberation
community projects with government officials. During discussion of areas that
deserve government attention in the community, the community chiefs and village
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heads (all male representatives) pointed out creation of road networks and rural
electrification as major problems that need intervention. While these areas require
development, the leader of women group in the community pointed to the fact that the
sidelining of women has made their own ideas about development muted. According
to Mrs Justina, the leader of women group, there are pressing areas that women want
government to intervene such as provision of health centres and services, building and
equipping the schools for their children, among others. All these areas were not given
priority because women’s voices, knowledge and experiences were not brought in
dominant traditional beliefs still existing in rural settings in Nigeria.
Nevertheless, there is the acknowledgement that household activities,
including agricultural activities, are undertaken by women, but any decision making,
power and control either in the household or community are reserved for men. Given
that men are the main planners and administrators, there is often lack of
differentiation between men and women’s needs in development projects, as seen in
the case of Amoli community; while women would have opted for provision of health
care services and schools; men opted for road construction and rural electrification.
According to Mrs Justina (the women group leader), while rural electrification and
road construction are good, and will benefit women too, the women group would have
included provision of health care services, which matters most for the women at this
time, especially pregnant women that experience complications in child delivery due
to lack of adequate health care delivery.
The general perception from what the study gathered is that men represent and
speak on behalf of the women or their families as the case may be. According to
leader of one of the villages in Amoli (Ugwunagbo village), ‘there is absolute no need
to involve women, because community projects are entirely men affairs and women
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can contribute little or nothing; we are part of the community projects to represent our
families and communities interests as well.’ Clearly, the patriarchal structure of the
Nigerian society and stereotyping of women, consciously or subconsciously are the
major contributors to women marginalisation in the community. Patriarchy reinforces
the belief that women should be subordinate to men, in terms of power and status, and
that it is right and proper for men to command and women to obey. This has become a
general belief in the community and has extended to all parts of the Amoli
community’s life, relations and administration. The same kind of gender construction
ad relations is also visible in many rural communities in Nigeria. Community affairs,
management, leadership and control in Nigeria are to a larger extent seen as the
terrain of men, and whatever decisions reached would be relayed back to the women
by men (if men find it necessary). Thus, many still believe men are better suited for
leadership (Mordi et al, 2010; Ehigie, 2003).
It is a well known fact that Nigeria has the highest population in Africa, with
over 160 million people. Of this magnitude, forty-nine percent are female (estimated
at 80.2 million girls and women). Yet, women live within the confines of rigid gender
norms, which frequently result in disproportionate access to essential services,
discrimination and ultimately violations of their human rights. Despite a general
commitment to the principle of non-discrimination as enshrined in the 1999
Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Nigeria’s ratification of the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women,
Nigeria falls short of the desired result of giving males and females equal
opportunities. For instance, section 17 (1) of the 1999 Constitution states ‘that the
Federal Republic of Nigeria shall abide on the principles of freedom, equality and
social justice for all.’ The Nigerian government has been scaling up its effort towards
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meeting the goal of gender equality with the introduction of National Gender Policy
in 2007 and the Strategic Implementation Framework for the policy in 2008. While
Nigerian government is pursuing the 35% agenda of women representation in public
offices as stated in the 2007 Gender Policy Document, the rural women, majorily
uneducated, still face discriminatory practices. Legally as stated in the Nigerian
Constitution, women have a right to equal place with men in decision-making bodies.
In practice, the situation is not that simple due to customary and traditional beliefs;
there is still a wide gap between what is written in the Constitution and what is
practiced, especially in the rural setting, where women cannot defend their rights due
to lack of education and where poverty has constrained women too. As a result
socially constructed gender roles are still common. Traditional perceptions and some
sort of stereotypes have skewed women into some jobs and roles, leaving them absent
in some others.
Evidently, Women in Development (WID) approach, developed throughout
the United Nations Decade for women (1975-1985), recognises that women are
active, although, unacknowledged participants in the development process, providing
a critical contribution to the economic growth. WID had argud that women are an
untapped resource that must be integrated into the development process in order to
achieve sustainable development in nations of the world. Hence, if in the real sense
development means the alleviation of mass poverty, the marginalization of women
would lead to feminization of poverty since they will not be participating in decisionmaking, planning and implementation of community development programmes, as
seen in the Amoli Community in Enugu State, Nigeria.
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Conclusion and Recommendations
There is no gainsaying that women’s roles in development have been
acknowledged globally. Women are playing active roles in community development
through their active participation in homes, farms and trades, but are never consulted
in community development projects. They bear the burden of development in their
homes but are never allowed to participate in decision making and leadership of the
community. In cases where government want to assist provide basic amenities for
development of the community, women’s voices are rarely (or never) lended. The
patriarchal nature of the Nigerian society coupled with the traditional beliefs and
norms have been a major challenge to rural women. There is the general perception
that men should decide and women should accept and that men should be the voice
for their women. Such traditional beliefs have put rural women in perpetual
domination. While things are changing and more women are acquiring education and
attaining public and political offices/positions, the societal construction of gender
roles and relations have not changed for rural women, who still face discriminatory
practices and marginalisation in development issues and women in Amoli Community
in Enugu State is a case in point.
This work then recommends government elimination of the various traditional
beliefs and norms that constrain rural women through implementation of laws that
gets to the grassroots. There is the need to address the contributions, needs and
importance of women in development when planning development policies and
projects within rural communities. With the incorporation of women, women’s needs
and agendas into the development process, projects will be more suited to those that
are central to development, that is, women.
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