Mobilizing Nigerian Women for National Development: The Role of the Female Elites

Abstract

At the heart of the acceptance of the question into development policies is the general awareness created on the condition of women as a result of the International Women's Year (1975) and the decade that followed (The United Nation's Decade for Women, 1975-1985), with the theme Equality, Development and Peace. The organization of African Unity through the Lagos Plan of Action in 1981, in response to the UN Decade for Women, set out strategies for economic development in Africa from 1980 to 2000. It stressed the importance of giving special attention to women in 198085, in such priority areas as education, training and employment; organizational machinery; communications and mass media; health nutrition and family life; research, data collection and analysis; and legislature and administrative matters. In the area of employment, the plan emphasized the need to promote recognition and documentation of women's contributions to agriculture, especially in terms of food supply and the need for continuous research to accomplish this. It is imperative therefore for national plans to recognize women's contribution and skills, while labor and welfare legislation codes are to be adapted to African conditions and women's multiple responsibilities in both urban and rural settings. The Nigerian Federal Government established the National Committee on Women and Development in November 1982, and directed that committees on Women and Development should be set up at state levels in response to the recommendations of the World Conference of the International Women's Year in Mexico City, 1975, and the second extraordinary session of the Assembly of Heads of State and Governments of the Organisation of African Unity in Lagos, April 1980.