Women Empowerment In Nigeria Research Articles

Age Difference between Spouses and Women Empowerment in Nigeria

Women empowerment is the increased ability of women to make life choices, and it is a major challenge among couples in decision making process in sub-Saharan Africa. Women empowerment among couples in Nigeria is influenced by the variations in the age of husband and wife especially among women with older husbands. This study examined the influence of spousal age difference on women empowerment in Nigeria using NDHS 2018 dataset. Women empowerment was measured by decision on health, household purchase and visit to family. Women were considered empowered if they take at least two of the decision singlehandedly and shared one with her spouse. Data were analysed using descriptive and logistic regression at P≤0.05. Spousal age difference was found to influence women empowerment in Nigeria. Women who were same age with husband and 1-4years and 5-9 years younger than husband were 2times more likely to be empowered, while women 10 or more year were 1 time more likely to be empowered. Specifically, women were more empowered if 1-4years younger than husband, as large spousal age difference limits women autonomy. The study has shown the implication of women marrying men who are far older than them and has given stakeholders a diverse approach toward empowerment of women and achieving SDG5.

Gender Imbalance, Reduced Productivity and Low Political Empowerment of Women in Nigeria’s Democratic Space (1999-2023)

The clamour for gender parity and/or equality is a global issue that has been and is still being widely discussed and this has prompted most governments of the world to address the apparent challenges posed by gender disparity and discrimination across the globe. Thus, this paper intends to address the plethora of problems and issues being confronted by womenfolk in Nigeria so as to provide the strategies for ensuring gender equity and to bring to an end the societal bias against women as a prerequisite for societal upliftment which will eventually lead to rapid increase in women’s contribution to socio-economic and political development of the nation at large. Using content-analysis method, data were sourced from the existing relevant literature and the research paper adopts Gender Equality Theory. The study reveals that the goal of achieving equality of rights for both men and women has been a difficult task to achieve in Nigeria due to; adverse cultural and religious practices, colonial experience, lack of education, oppressive political environment and poor socio-economic status of Nigerian women. The study therefore recommends among other things, the breaking down of the adverse cultural and religious negative practices, integration of women into the mainstream of politics, liberalization of the oppressive political environment, re-orientating and re-awakening the womenfolk through mass media as well as to ensure that issues of special concern to women are wholistically addressed at all levels of government. Keywords: Gender imbalance, Reduced productivity, Low participation, Women and Nigeria. Aims Research Journal Reference Format: Ibitoye, M.O. (2023): Gender Imbalance, Reduced Productivity and Low Political Empowerment of Women in Nigeria’s Democratic Space (1999-2023). Advances in Multidisciplinary and Scientific Research Journal Vol. 9. No. 4. Pp 44-58. www.isteams.net/aimsjournal. dx.doi.org/10.22624/AIMS/V9N3P5

Entrepreneurship as a tool for women empowerment in Nigeria

Women entrepreneurship is one of the key areas in advancing gender equality and achieving economic empowerment among women. The women empowerment topic which stems from the SDGs 5 of gender equality is known to be one of the ways through which long term economic success can be achieved in many nations of the world. A means of achieving this is through female entrepreneurships which provide the economic stability and strength for many women and help them become independent. Women entrepreneurs account for up to a third of all businesses operating in the formal economy worldwide, however, the majority of those in developing and transitioning economies are very small and micro enterprises, with little potential for growth most especially among the female gender. Female entrepreneurship in Nigeria has often been driven by necessity and seen as a norm in emerging markets due to insufficient formal employment. Nigerian women involved in entrepreneurs are being faced with many challenges which ranges from lack of access to funds, infrastructures, entrepreneurial trainings, and small business sizes, which calls for urgent need, intervention, and appropriate measures by government. This study examined the importance of women entrepreneurship in Nigeria, it further gave a breakdown of the labor force in the aspect of women participation, the entrepreneurial reasons women venture into businesses and what strategies could be implemented to create enabling environment for female in businesses and positive impact on women empowerment in the country.

Democracy, Gender Issues and Women Empowerment in Nigeria: Reflections on Selected Nigerian Feminist Drama

Purpose: Gender inequality has thrived in Nigeria for too long. Feminist scholars therefore feel that there is urgent need to change the status quo through feminist inputs and this led to the present persistent advocacy for women empowerment. Drama has been mostly deployed as a means of expressing this new trend of discourse. Thus, Nigerian writers, especially feminist dramatists, consciously reflect in their works the frightening realities of the prevailing socio- political and economic situations in the country, drawing the attention of the masses, especially the female gender to the inequality inherent in their exploitation, mobilizing the society to rise up against their oppressors. This paper therefore, is set to examine the issues of gender and women empowerment in Nigeria as reflected in selected Nigerian plays. The plays include Tess Onwueme’s The Reign of Wazobia, J.P. Clark’s The Wives’ Revolt and Fred Agbeyegbe’s The King Must Dance Naked.
 Methodology: Textual analysis of the selected plays is carried out.
 Findings: The analysis reveals that drama can be employed as a weapon to break the walls of cultural barriers that impede the struggle of women for social, political and economic empowerment.
 Unique Contribution to Theory Policy and Practice: Thus, premised on the Womanist theory, this paper concludes that drama can be deployed as a means of promoting justice, gender equity and fair play in Nigeria’s drive towards the possibilities of true democracy. This is the playwrights’ contribution to the theory and practice of feminist drama in Nigeria.

Microfinance Policy Thrust and Women Empowerment in Ogun, State, Nigeria

The study examined the microfinance policy thrust for women empowerment in Nigeria; these were with a view to investigating the impact of microfinance policy on women economic development in Ogun State. The study adopted survey research design. Primary and secondary data were used utilised for the study. Primary data were collected through the administration of questionnaire and conduct of interview. For the questionnaire, a sample size of 221 respondents, consisting market women who were the beneficiaries of the microfinance scheme (180), Microfinance Desk Officers of the Central Bank (11), Ogun State branch, and staff of Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (30) selected across the three senatorial districts in Ogun State. Multistage sampling technique was also used for the study. Secondary data were obtained from official publications, textbooks, journals, and internet. Data collected were analysed using content analysis. The study revealed that local governments of Ogun State were participating in the microfinance policy thrust (̅χ=3.6), the policy grants women access to loans (̅χ=3.6), and the policy enhanced linkage among microfinance institutions (̅χ=3.7). The study concluded that microfinance policy had a positive significance on women empowerment in Ogun State.

Skills Development and Women Empowerment in Nigeria: An Imperative for Partnership and Economic Growth

Over the years there has been growing concern by governments, development partners and other stakeholders on the need to empower women to fight poverty and contribute meaningfully to the economic growth of their communities. In Nigeria, just as in other African countries, various policies have been established by government at national and state levels to facilitate the acquisition of skills by women to enable them become employable or in some cases, become entrepreneurs themselves. However, these policies do not seem to be making any appreciable impact as poverty, joblessness and other challenges that accompany such situations continue to spiral higher, especially among women. This paper seeks to evaluate the skills acquisition programmes in Nigeria and to understand why, in spite of the huge resources committed to skills acquisition, not much seem to have been gained from it. The paper also explores the level of cooperation or partnerships that exist between the government and other stakeholders to see how improving such partnerships could be the nexus that is required to turn the situation around and lift women and their communities out of poverty unto a path of self-reliance, economic growth and development.

Cassava seedpreneurship, determinants of varietal adoption, profitability, and women empowerment in Nigeria

Cassava “seedpreneurship”, is an emerging concept that focuses on establishing a sustainable cassava seed system. The dearth of empirical studies on seedpreneurship and the gaps in understanding the adoption of improved cassava varieties, profitability of Village Seed Entrepreneurs (VSEs), and women empowerment led to this study. This study was carried out in Nigeria using a multi-stage sampling method. It covered the four states (Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Benue, and Oyo) where VSEs and out-growers’ farming activities were carried out under the Building an Economically Sustainable Integrated Seed System for Cassava (BASICS I) Project. A total of 901 respondents were sampled. Structured questionnaires were administered during interviews. The conceptual framework provides representative indicators with focus on varietal adoption as environmental and genetic resources (environmental sustainability), profitability (economic sustainability) and women empowerment (social sustainability). The data gathered were analysed using descriptive analysis, chi-square test, profitability analysis, and probit regression model. Factors that influenced the adoption of improved cassava stems were age, nearness to agro input dealers, gender, and source of stems. The profitability analysis revealed that 96 percent of the seedpreneurs recorded profits. The profit levels varied by scale of operation. Access to credit and input in productive decisions were the most important indicators of women empowerment in seedpreneurship. Overall, the study revealed that seedpreneurship drives varietal adoption, increases profitability, and enhances women empowerment within the context of sustainable cassava seed system in Nigeria. Project implementors and policymakers can benefit from the findings in developing a sustainable formal seed sector. • Cassava “seedpreneurship”, is an emerging concept that focuses on establishing a sustainable cassava seed system. • The conceptual framework provides representative indicators with focus on varietal adoption as environmental and genetic resources, profitability and women empowerment. • Factors that influenced the adoption of improved cassava stems were age, nearness to agro input dealers, gender, and source of stems. • The profitability the cassava seed system varied by scale of operation. • Access to credit and participation in productive decisions were the most important indicators of women empowerment in seedpreneurship.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution and Gender Inequality in Nigeria: Education and Empowerment of Women in Focus

This paper focuses on gender inequality in the area of education and empowerment of women in Nigeria. This has become significant in this time of novel global wealth coming with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIR). It was discovered through a doctrinal research that, Nigeria, aside from having many national legislations on gender equality, is also a signatory to major international human rights instruments on gender equality. However, the workability of these legal frameworks has remained doubtful as there are wide range of gender inequalities which makes it difficult for Nigerian women to achieve their full potentials. Intellectually, higher number of Nigerian men goes to school than women. It follows from here that, men in Nigeria are undoubtedly gainfully employed than the women. Women in Nigeria are often circumscribed to low-paying and very repetitive jobs. In view of this realization, there is every possibility of increased and massive inequality and unemployment as robots seems ready to replace the women work force in Nigeria. Hence, the researcher asks the question as to; how relevant will Nigerian women be in the area of education and empowerment in this time of FIR, despite the presence of the law? This paper argues that the legal framework on gender equality in Nigeria are mere cosmetological set up, which had not impacted on equality between women and men, despite the Women in Development theory (WID), which has been made part and parcel of the legal framework. The paper fears that if these inequality persists, there will be no place for Nigerian women in the FIR. Concerted efforts are required on the part of the government of Nigeria to see to the workability of the laws on gender equality so as to make women relevant in the FIR. It is in the light of the far-reaching implications of this that the makes recommendations.

The Impact of Financial Inclusion on the Economic Empowerment of Nigerian Women

This study provides a review of financial inclusion and women empowerment in Nigeria using secondary data. This research has highlighted the state of financial inclusion in Nigeria for women and compared same to other countries in the world. Firstly, it identifies the Conflict Theory and the Integrated Ecological Framework as concepts that give credence to my research and position on the discrimination of women, considering the context of the society in question. It has identified the global, regional, and local frameworks for financial inclusion and women’s rights as adopted by Nigeria. Secondly, it draws particular attention to the barriers of financial inclusion, and it identifies the traditional indicators for financial inclusion globally, and uses these benchmarks to independently ascertain if there indeed exists a relationship between access to these financial inclusion indexes and the economic empowerment of a Nigerian woman. Thirdly, this research draws attention to the financial inclusion policy and implementation activities of other countries as well as the discovery of the Income Level Paradox, which appears to be a trap that a lot of women have found themselves in; especially in the North of the country. In addition, Northern Nigeria has been identified as the major influence in the gap that Nigeria has experienced in meeting its financial inclusion target, and it has been highlighted as a limitation and a potential area for research in future studies, likewise the Income Level Paradox and household income control for women. Deductively, our key findings have it that Nigerian women are financially excluded and there are barriers, which when resolved can foster financial inclusion, and potentially economic empowerment for these women. Recommendations have been made for bridging the financial inclusion gender gap (FIGG) for the North of Nigeria and the South as well. Finally, the issues deliberated on in this paper reveals limitations to this study which are avenues for further research in the area of breaking the 'Income Level Trap’ and resolving the FIGG in Northern Nigeria.

Socio-Economic Implication of Political and Economic Participation of Women in Nigeria

This paper examined social-economic impacts of economic and political empowerment of women in Nigeria between 1990–2018. To achieve our main objective, we employed a trend analysis and ARDL technique with data sourced from the WDI (2019) and various issues of National Bureau of Statistics. We observed that the growth of women (between age 15 and 64) in labour force participation in Nigeria is trending downwardly during the period under consideration. While the proportion of female representation in the parliament has been on the increase since the advent of the fourth Republic in 1999. Finally, we unsurprisingly, discovered that despite the huge resources committed to advocacy for women’s empowerment, the social costs in terms of the increased crime rate among youth and the level of insecurity in the country significantly overwhelmed the economic benefits in term of increased economic growth. Consequently, we inter alia recommended that the governments together with these advocacy groups should channel the same amount of resources devoted to campaigns for women empowerment into reversing the ugly trend of juvenile delinquency if the level of insecurity in Nigeria is to be curtailed. And, the proposed bill by the National Assembly and the 36 state Houses of Assemblies to increase the maternity leave from its current level of 3 months to 6 months should be fast-track and duly implemented across board in both public and private organizations.

INFORMATION COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGY; THE MILLENNIUM TOOL FOR ENTREPRENEURAL EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

This paper is focused on Information Communication Technology as the millennium tool for Entrepreneurial Empowerment of women. It also highlighted the diversity of information communication and technology, indicators of empowerment. Little success has been achieved in the empowerment of women in Nigeria despite efforts of government and public organisations .This paper identified information communication technology as the missing- link in the education enterprise that should be giving a priority in order to achieve the desired success in the entrepreneurial empowerment of women in Nigeria .The writer recommends among others that there should be public-private partnership to make possible innovative approach in the training of women entrepreneurs in ICT through the sponsoring of e-learning initiatives or peer-peer informal learning strategies for women entrepreneurs.

Value Addition to Beans: The Case of Bean Balls “Akara” Production in Idemili South Local Government of Anambra State, Nigeria

Aims: The study examined socio-economic characteristics of the bean balls producers, the profitability of production, determinants of profit, reasons for starting the business and constraints to production of bean balls in Idemili South Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. The great need to help homemakers in Nigeria better appreciate and prepare cowpea bean balls as snacks for income generation and women empowerment in Nigeria informed this study.
 Study Design: Multi-stage, purposive and random sampling techniques were used to select 50 respondents. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and analyzed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics.
 Results: Findings on socio-economic factors of the respondents gave mean age, education level and years of experience of 42.4years, 13.5years and 8.9 years respectively; the majority (92%) of the respondents were females, the majority (60%) married and most (70%) had a household size of 4-6 persons. The enterprise proved profitable with monthly mean net income and net return on investment values of ₦75,990 and 0.39 respectively. Significant determinants of net production returns were gender, educational level and costs of inputs. Main reasons for starting the business were a scarcity of job, profitable nature of the business, high demand and small start-up capital. Serious constraints to production of bean balls in the area were conjunctivitis due to emitted smoke, high and unstable price of raw materials and high cost of production. Policy measures such as bulk purchasing of beans, regulation of market prices of the product, provision of infrastructures (water, electricity), use of cooking gas as a source of heat would mitigate the problems, improve productivity, output and enterprise profitability.
 Conclusion: The bean ball production proved to be a profitable enterprise in the study area. Nevertheless, the efficiency and profitability would be improved if the constraints identified by the study are addressed as it will encourage many more people especially young, active and viable individuals, to venture into the enterprise.

Employment Generation Programmes and Women Empowerment in Nigeria

Women employment and empowerment is the critical goal of employment programme in Nigeria in driving productive and sustainable economy. Thus, this study objectively investigates the impacts of employment generation programme on women empowerment in Ogun State, Nigeria. The researcher adopts descriptive survey research method and use a self-constructed questionnaire to elicit information from the randomly selected respondents. One Hundred and Twenty (120) respondents of the total population (comprising of women beneficiaries of the employment generation programme of the skill acquisition outfits at Ijebu-Ode, and Ijebu-Ibefun as well as that of the Ogun State Ministry of Women Affairs) were sampled. The data collated was analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency count, simple percentage and mean (using a cut-off mean score of 0.5 rating scale) to answer the research questions while the null hypotheses 1 and 2 were tested with Chi-square at P<0.05. The result shows that demographic characteristics (i.e. marital status, educational qualification and employment status) do have significant influence on the women empowerment programmes as it is positively embarked on by young, married and highly educated women. It was also realized that although, training centres, catering tools, tie and dye materials and cloth sewing machine were moderately available facilities for women empowerment programme; their availability and diverse activities during the programme is not significantly determined the women sustainable empowerment. The result also revealed major persistent challenge of the programme is highly unemployed women community. Thus, the study justifiably recommends that incorporation of more entrepreneurs, accommodation of more young school leavers, provision of more training tools and motivating interest of learning with attractive compensation can go a long way in assuring the quality of employment programmes to ensure stable and productive empowerment of women community. Keywords: Employment, Job Creation progammes, Empowerment, and Women Empowerment DOI : 10.7176/JEP/10-29-06 Publication date :October 31 st 2019

Innovative solutions and women empowerment: Implications for sustainable development goals in Nigeria

This paper presents an analysis of patterns of university interaction for innovation that engenders inclusive development in Nigeria. Specifically, it explains innovative solutions for women empowerment that occurred through interaction between the University of Ibadan and the Ile-Ogbo community and its implication for sustainable development goals. It is a case of innovation and skills upgrading aimed at improving the livelihood conditions of women in a semi-urban marginalized community. The results demonstrate that interactions of the sampled respondents generated three types of innovation: process, products and marketing innovations, which promote livelihood of the marginalized women. It also identified a well-defined pathway that connects innovation to empowerment and how marginalized women can improve and control their earnings. The study concludes that interactions at the community level, that addressed livelihood problems of a typical marginalized community in an informal set up, can help in achieving sustainable development goals, especially that of women empowerment in Nigeria.

The Quest For Women Political Empowerment In Nigeria: The Role Of Mass Media

This work derived its strength from secondary and primary sources. Women empowerment in Nigeria is a much debating theme and a harbinger of hard task as one have to recognize the reality of gender isolated issues and discrimination against women as social perniciousness since several years back. Empowering women aims to inspire women with the courage to break free from the chains of limiting self belief patterns and societal or religious conditioning that have traditionally kept women suppressed and unable to see their true beauty and power. Mass media plays one of the huge parts in women's improvement and its empowerment. Media can make an enlivening motivation to accomplish their potential as prime movers of progress in the public eye. Mass media will be engaged as one of the boss imperative elective necessities in helping the women empowered. It will help as the best means and access to stand in opposition to the mistreatment and underestimation of women at the grass root level. Along these lines, this examination will uniquely feature the positive viewpoints of mass media as a formative apparatus to depict and reverberates the perspectives and thoughts of women in Nigeria. The paper however derives its strength from both primary and secondary sources.

Women empowerment in Nigerian drama: a contextual study of Irene Salami-Agunloye’s heroines

Discourse on women empowerment in Nigeria has been on-going for decades now, and it will continue to be topical as long as issues of female subjugation, subordination, marginalization and oppression in the Nigerian society persist. And as long as there are still voices speaking up for the empowerment of the female gender, as long as concerted efforts are being made towards the realization of that course, the discourse will continue to be on the front burner of gender developmental discourse. The dramatic space like other realms of the Nigerian society has invested a great deal of talent on female empowerment and positive female character portraiture in dramatic works. One such dramatist who is contributing immensely to the advocacy of women empowerment in Nigeria through her dramatic pieces and other female gender oriented works is Irene Isoken Orosanye Salami-Agunloye. This essay is aimed at situating her female characters and their individual challenges in the present day Nigerian society and it reveals how Salami-Agunloye recreates and empowers her female characters to stand up to and address issues in a closed society that is dominated by the convictions, doctrines and ideologies of the male gender. Keywords: gender, women empowerment, drama, Salami-Agunloye, African feminism

Domestic Violence in Relation to Women Empowerment and Women Household Headship: A Case in Nigeria

&lt;p class="Default"&gt;Domestic Violence against women is very common in both developing and developed countries and is a complex and multi-dimensional phenomenon. However, global developments have yet to be systematically assimilated into theories around violence against women. This study seeks to examine the associations between domestic violence against women household headship and women empowerment in Nigeria. The study used data from the 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression method was used to assess the association among the study variables. The analysis showed that domestic violence is usually more where there are women-household headships in case of Nigeria changing the general idea of having less domestic violence in women headed households. There should be strict and effective laws against domestic violence. Men or women whoever is domestically violating another woman should have to deal with legal consequences; otherwise, this trend of domestically violating women will go on forever.&lt;/p&gt;

Socio-Economic Effects of Women's Participation in Adult and NonFormal Education: Case of Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State, Nigeria

This paper examined the socioeconomic effects of women's participation in adult and non-formal education in Nigeria with special attention on Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State. From the pre-colonial era up to the time of independence, little attention was given to the education of girl child and women in Nigeria - be it formal and non-formal. The reason is not unconnected with the belief by many that the best place for women to function is home and kitchen. However, the clamour for girl-child education and women empowerment in the global scene brought about the paradigm shift in the area of education in Nigeria as much emphasis is now being placed on women education as catalyst for socioeconomic change and development. This paper identified the socio-economic benefits derivable from women's participation in non-formal education. The descriptive survey method was used, interviews conducted were codified and analysed using SPSS T-test stastical instrument. Suggestions and recommendations were made based on the outcome of the analysis, to suggest better ways for improving the education and empowerment of women in Nigeria.

Developing Entrepreneurial Skills in Female Pre-Service Chemistry Educators through Science Education: A Path to Women Empowerment in Nigeria

The study investigated the development of entrepreneurial skills in female pre-service chemistry educators of south-east colleges of education in Nigeria through science education. This study involved only the south east colleges of education. The study employed a descriptive survey design. Simple random sampling by balloting with replacement was used to select 90 final year degree and NCE female pre-service chemistry educators drawn from three South East colleges of education involved in degree programmes. The instrument for data collections was a 41-item structured questionnaire developed by the researchers. The instrument was validated and an internal consistency was calculated using Cronbach alpha and found to be 0.88. Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. Data were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while z-test was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. The result from the study showed that female pre-service chemistry educators in southeast colleges of education were not exposed to entrepreneurial skills in science education; poor funding, inadequate science laboratories, lack of materials and equipment were among the hindrances in the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills in science education programmes. Strategies to empower the female pre-service chemistry educators’ acquisition of entrepreneurial skills in science education programmes so as to eradicate poverty and improve national development by being self-reliant were suggested. Based on the findings, recommendations were made which include among others that: entrepreneurial skills should be incorporated into science education curricular and also fund should be provided to the colleges of education by the government to procure facilities and materials for teaching entrepreneurial skills incorporated into science education programmes.

A Survey of the Perception of the Services of Micro Finance Institutions by the Female Service Users in Benin City, South-South, Nigeria

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The study examines the perceptions of the services of the micro finance Institutions by the women service users, and how the services of micro Institutions affect businesses of the beneficiaries of the micro credit loans. The research design for the study was the survey method. The instruments of data collection were structured questionnaires and in-depth interview. A total of 450 questionnaires were administered to the female participants, and senior management personnel of the micro credit institutions were interviewed. The cluster and simple random sampling were used to select the participants for the study. The leaders of registered unions were the informants. The result reveals that the poor services and attitude of officials of micro finance institutions and other problems like the regressive tax regimes, harsh economic climate and patriarchy are negatively affecting the business ventures of the loan beneficiaries and by implication the goals of poverty reduction via micro credit scheme . The women beneficiaries are groaning under the burden of loan repayment and meeting other obligations as mothers and wives. This study is applicable in the context of social policy development at this time when social services delivery is not only poor but at dismal level. The need for gender sensitive and social development becomes imperative. It is critical to social work practice in the context of advocacy, empowerment programs, facilitating and initiating service delivery and Community organizing by social workers that will enhance the war against Poverty and other social impediments against women empowerment in Nigeria.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;