Participation of Women in Community Development in Nigeria.
ABSTRACT
This work studied women participation in community development with special emphasis on Igbo Eze South Local Government Area, Enugu State. The exercise was carried out due to the observed lag in women participation in community development all over the country. The work had four key objectives which it sought to realize.
These include: to ascertain the barriers to women participation in agriculture within the local government, to ascertain the impact of low level of education on women participation in community development, to determine how to enhance women participation in the politics of Igbo Eze South Local Government Area and finally to identify ways of empowering the women for optimal participation in the overall development of the communities.
The researcher made use of both primary and secondary sources of data to generate data used for the study. These data were presented in tables and analysed using simple percentage. The researcher found out the various barriers to women participation in community development to include cultural practices, low level of women education, poverty among the rural women and violent that characterize the country’s politics.
It is therefore recommended that cultural practices that deny women free access to land should be abrogated; Government should provide modern farm implements to the rural women farmers and also educate them on how to use these implements to enhance productivity; girl child education should be made free and also compulsory at least at secondary school levels.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title – – i
Approval – – – – – – – – – – ii
Dedication – – – – – – – – – – iii
Acknowledgement – – – – – – – – – iv
Abstract – – – – – – – – – – vi
Table of content — – – – – – – – – vii
List of tables – – – – – – – – – ix
1.0 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION – – – – 1
I. I Background of Study – – – – – – – 1
1.2 Statement of Problem – – – – – – – 7
1.3 Objectives of Study – – – – – – – 10
1.4 Significance of Study – – – – – – – 10
1.5 Scope and Limitation of Study – – – – – – 11
2.0 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW AND RESEARCH METHOD 13
2.1 Literature Review – – – – – – – – 13
2.2 Theoretical Framework – – – – – – – 29
2.3 Research Hypotheses – – – – – – – 35
2.4 Operationalization of Key Concepts – – – – – 36
2.5 Research Methodology – – – – – – – 37
3.0 CHAPTER THREE: THE STUDY AREA/ GENERAL INFORMATION 41
3.1 Historical Background of The Study Area – – – – 41
3.2 Geographical Location – – – – – – 43
3.3 The people’s culture – – – – – – – 43
4.0 CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS 45
4.1 Data Presentation and Analysis – – – – – – 45
4.2 Testing of the Hypotheses – – – – – – 62
5.0 CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATION, CONCLUSION 71
5.1 Summary of Findings – – – – – – – 71
5.2 Recommendations – – – – – – – – 73
5.3 Conclusion – – – – – – – – – 75
Bibliography – – – – – – – – – 77
INTRODUCTION
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.
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StudentsandScholarship Team.