Gender Dimensions of Street Children in Ibadan, Nigeria

Abstract

While the dramatic proliferation and plight of street children in Nigerian urban centres have attracted considerable research attention, the gender dimension of this social phenomenon remained understudied. This study, therefore, analyses the gender dimension of street children in Ibadan. It first enumerated street children in the three residential neighbourhoods (urban high, medium and low-density areas) in Ibadan and then selected 10% of the observed figure for purpose of questionnaire administration to obtain information on their socio-cultural and socio-economic characteristics. Relative Incidence of Street Children (RISC) was computed and used to analyse gender and spatial variations of street children, using cross-tabulation. Results reveal among others, that there were more boys (69.1%) than girls (30.9%) on the street of Ibadan. A similar pattern was observed when disaggregated by residential densities and land uses except in markets where there were more girls (53.68%0 than boys (46.32%). The observed gender disparity in school attendance was in favour of street boys (63.7%). Similarly, more boys (90%) than girls (10%) had stayed for more than one year on the street. As a means to ensure an effective policy programme, the study suggests the need to address the gender dimension in any intervention strategy or policy for street children.