GENDER EQUALITY AND SUSTAINABLE EDUCATION IN NIGERA

Abstract

The rights, dignity and capability of women cannot be ignored if the future of the generation yet unborn is to be sustained. Nigeria as a country has in the past decades relegated women in all facets of decision making including political and social life because the society subjected them under the leadership and authority of the male counterpart. Given the realization of the potential of women in this dispensation, all the effort to address this disparity has not achieved desired result because women are still not well represented in the labour force, politics and decision making. They are over-burden by unpaid services especially house chores and nursing which provided them little or no opportunity to participate actively in the society. It is against this background that this study examines the relationship between gender equality and sustainable education. It specifically investigates the effect of graduate turn-out on sustainable education and examines the effect government educational financing on sustainable education in Nigeria. The study follows descriptive research design and secondary data from World Bank Development Index (WDI) over the period of 2000 to 2017 was used in the analysis. Descriptive analysis and empirical analysis using regression analysis were conducted. The result of FMOLS regression showed that gender equality and government educational financing exert a significant negative effect on sustainable education in Nigeria, while income inequality does not showed a significant effect on sustainable education in Nigeria. The study submitted that gender equality have a significant negative effect on sustainable education in Nigeria. Among others, the need to redesign the educational system from elementary level in its entire curriculum planning to incorporate the agenda of sustainable education was recommended. The objectives, teaching and instruction methods, text books’ content and evaluation, should be redirected towards sustainability with emphasis on its social and environmental aspects.