NATURE OF CHANGING GENDER ROLES IN IGALA HOUSEHOLDS IN KOGI EAST SENATORIAL DISTRICT OF KOGI STATE, NIGERIA

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The protection of the members of the household is the role of the head of the Igala household. However, many female spouses and children no longer get this protection. Such female spouses participate in or solely provide food, pay house rents, pay medical bills, etc., in addition to their female gender roles of domestic, caregiving and reproduction roles. The changing role-taking outstretch their energy, causing role strain among them. This situation attracted the researchers’ attention into examining the nature of the changing gender roles in Igala households in Kogi East Senatorial district of Kogi State, Nigeria. . A body of related literature was reviewed while liberal feminism was used to explain the phenomenon as the theory is suitable in explaining inequality in changing gender roles. The study adopted both qualitative and quantitative research designs. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 268 respondents; while the 4 IDI informants and 24 discussants were selected using the purposive sampling technique. Questionnaire, IDI and FGD guides and documentary search pro-former were used to gather data from the field. Findings reveal that while the authority aspect of the family protection role is minimally changing, other aspects such as security; public relation; liaison; discipline; provision and male gender role modeling are fast changing. Furthermore, the study revealed that the domestic and caregiving aspects of procreants’ roles are minimally changing as few men partake in domestic and caregiving roles whereas majority of women perform security, disciplinary and provider roles. This creates imbalance and unequal role taking. The research therefore concludes that there is inequality in changing gender roles among the Igala ethnic group of Kogi State. There is therefore, the need for the socialisation of the populace into accepting husbands sharing domestic and caregiving roles. Efforts should be made by relevant bodies to ensure that formal and informal education contents should include gender role sharing among couples to mitigate the identified challenges.