COMPLETE SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS & MATERIALS :
CHAPTERS: Chapter 1-5
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1.0 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION.
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Globally, women participation in community development has been generally less than encouraging despite their numerical strength. The situation has grown so worst that it has generated both national and international recognition. Women empowerment remains the focal point of international conference on women held in Beijing, China in 1995. The number three item in the table of Millennium Development Goals is gender equity and women empowerment. Before MDGs programme, there has been other global treaties, declarations, and conventions on women such as the one held Mexico, Nairobi, Dakar and New York in 1975, 1985, 1994 and 2000 respectively.
In Nigeria, various interventions and conferences such as the one held in 1989 was embarked upon to improve the status of women in the society. Nigeria is a signatory to many international instruments such as convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) signed on 13th June 1985. All these efforts made by both Nigerian government and international communities point to the fact that women participation in development has remained abysmally poor both in the developed and developing countries alike but the situation is worst in developing countries like Nigeria where women are regarded as inferior and second class citizen.
It has become incontrovertibly clear among the policy makers and international agencies that women constitute bulk of Nigerian population and they are indispensable in the issues of community development. According to 1991 Nigerian census, Nigerian women were reported to represent about 49.7% of the nation’s population. The 2006 National Population Census reveals that women make up 48.78% (about half) of the
population. Despite the numerical strength of women as revealed by the various censuses, women are under represented almost in all aspects of the nation’s economy such as politics, education, agriculture, business enterprises etc. This could be why the current wife of Nigerian president, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan has been on the lead in mobilization of women to demand for 35% women representation in all affairs of the nation. If according to Julius Nyere, “a person does not walk very far or very fast on one leg”, then the development of Nigeria should be a balanced effort of both men and women at all levels.
This significant population is not making commensurate impact in the development of the society. The Nigerian society is so patrilineal that women are expected to conform to and confine themselves to their male counterpart. They therefore operate within the scope allowed them by the men (their husbands) who see them as mere home managers incapable of making or contributing to sound policy decision making processes. This has greatly affected the development of the various Nigerian communities especially Uyo Local Government Area.
It is an indisputable fact that the level of development of any country rely heavily on its human capital utilization. When about half of the country’s population’s (women’s) talents are poorly utilized, the level and pace of development must be generally low. According to the United Nations (2008 ), the productive use of all human resources is a key factor in development. It is agued that if women are to join forces with their men counterpart at all level of development, the pace of development will be accelerated. Yet Nigeria is using only small proportion of the talent of her women. The
question is can development be achieved in any society without maximum utilization of its human capital? Impossible!
In the education sector, women fare worse than the men. Education is known to be the best investment in development, yet girls’ education has become a major issue in most developing countries Nigeria inclusive. Educated girls develop essential life skills including self confidence and the ability to participate effectively in society. In Nigeria, girls’ access to basic education especially in northern, states has remained low. According to UNFPA (1993) report about 67.3% of the Nigerian women are illiterates. Education brings benefits to the educated in the form of access to information and it equips men and women alike for greater participation in economic, political, and other forms of community development. Low level of education among Nigerian women especially those of Uyo Local Government Area, constitutes obstacle to development effort in the area.
It is believed that although in many countries including Nigeria, school drop out rates are steadily falling, they continue to be higher among the girls than among the boys. According to Akosile (2008) “the most recent available national MDGs progress report states that in Nigeria, the gross enrolment ratio for the boys has remained consistently higher than that of girls by over 10% with a male: female ratio of 55.9%:44.1%. At the level of secondary enrolment, girls have a much higher drop out rate such that by terminal class only 48.83% reach senior secondary school. Consequently, only 39.7% of female students graduate from universities and 37.54% from polytechnics. This is because some parents do not see the benefit of girls
education as girls are given away in marriage to serve the husbands family. This goes a long way to impair women participation in all aspects of community development.
According to Obote Karo (2006), it is generally believed in most Nigerian communities including Uyo Local Government Area that family name is preserved in the lineage of the male child. The male child is therefore better equipped both educationally and otherwise to take care of the family. Consequently, they become more useful to the society than their female counterpart. It is believed in some quarters that women are for reproduction and domestic activities, hence some of our women especially the Muslim faithful are kept in purdah (house seclusion of women) where they are excluded from social functions and participation in community development.
As if this is not enough, some female graduates of different higher institutions of learning have not been equipped to make maximum use of their talents and skills acquired in the course of their education for the development of the society. It is common to find some firms and financial institutions which prefer male employee to female employee and as a result make their employment opportunities more open to the men than the women especially the married ones. This situation is worsened by the wide range of mass unemployment in the country which the women are more vulnerable and the fact that Nigerian education has been quantitatively impressive and qualitatively deficient. Many who secured employment in certain organizations are under employed. Their talents and potentials are poorly utilised and as a result, their contribution to community development is impaired. Some educated women who are married to some rich men are conditioned by their husbands to be at home to take care of the family. This is more prevalent among the less educated husbands. Their husbands
provide for them and their talents and skills lie dormant and waste at their various homes.
In the political scene, only a small number of exceptional women have achieved prominence on modern political and government spheres despite their numerical strength. Being almost half of the population, the representation of women in government even though has improved than before is still very low compared to their population and what obtains in other nations of the world particularly in the developed nations. According to Adetotun (2010) in April 2007, there were a total of 1,200 women aspirants to 1,532 offices. 660 of these women won their primaries. Of the 660 candidates who contested elections for various posts, 96 finally emerged as winners: six deputy governors, nine senators, 27 national representatives, and 55 in various state Houses of Assembly. Even though this represents a significant increase in female participation in the political process, it is still a far cry from the aspirations of women the world over for full participation.
According to Jayne Uche (2008) in 2007 election in Nigeria, women got 96 out of 1531 elective positions in the country. This was however a major improvement in the sense that it was 27 in 1999 and 67 in 2003. There are 109 seats in the senate but three female got elected to the upper house in 1999, 4 in 2003 and 9 in 2007. In the house of representative which was 360 seats. 12 women were there in 1999, 23 in 2003, and 27 in 2007. The 36 states House of Representative together have 990 seats; women got 12 in 1999, 38 in 2003, and 54 in 2007. Suara (2000) maintains that out of 369 delegates to the constitutional conference of 1995, only 8 were women and currently about 7% of parliamentary seats only are occupied by women.
No woman has ever been a governor in Nigeria in the real sense of the matter despite the fact that Dame Virgy Etiaba was at one time sworn in as governor of Anambra State when the substantive governor, Peter Obi was impeached. Akwa Ibom State has never had a female governor or deputy. Nigeria has not recorded a female president, vice president, senate president, deputy senate president, and speaker house of representative or the deputy speaker except for Patricia Etteh, the first and only ex speaker of the house of representative, who could not finish her tenure in office before she was removed.
The facts and figures on representation of women in Nigerian politics from 1999 to 2007 show that they are inadequately represented in the executive arm, senate, house of representative, state legislature and local government councils.
In the politics of Uyo Local Government Area, women are almost out of the scene. There has never been a female chairman of the local government or the deputy. Women do not even venture into the politics and very few women who attempted, do not survive primary elections.
Financially, most Nigerian women are backward. Much of their work remains invisible, unremunerated and unrecognised. Their annual income has declined so sharply that most of the rural women are living below poverty line. Financial backwardness of Uyo women has made them depend on their husbands for living thereby making it difficult for them to take active part in development activities within the community. Since it is said that he who pays the piper dictates the tune, they do not go beyond the limit set by their husbands virtually in all they do. Very few
women who go beyond the limit either cope with divorce or severe punishment from the husband.
The data enumerated so far about the position of women in community development are mere tips of the iceberg. It exposes us to the fact that women are grossly disadvantaged. This raises the issue of how to reposition women of Uyo for effective participation in development activities in the area. It is on this background that this project is anchored.