CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The contention that there was a bias against women in traditional Nigerian society is too obvious to scholars of history of education in the country. That women are the subjects of a growing national and international interest is unquestionable (Sator, 1992; Ekejiuba, 1991; Okonjo, 1991) and this interest stems from the acute recognition that women are crucial to social and economic development.
The barrier placed against women’s self-actualization especially in traditional Nigerian society was without recourse to the roles the women played in such society. Apart from the domestic tasks which may be seen as facts of socialization and convention, women were also very productive in the economic sphere of the Nigerian society.
Adeyokunu (1981) has reported that women in Nigeria are more involved than men in virtually all areas of agricultural activities ranging from farm clearing to processing. In spite of this, the women suffer and are victims of a social order that treats them largely as second position role players. Thus, gender bias against women ranges from labour market discriminations to exclusion from policy making. According to Mamman (1996), this discrimination exacerbates poverty by preventing the majority of women from obtaining the credit, education, training, health services, child care and legal status needed to improve their prospects. One clear area of noted imbalance against women has been in the area of education. It is therefore not surprising that women’s inadequate access to education has been seen as the source of the various discriminations that they suffer (Afigbo, 1991).
As a result, there has been a groundswell of agreement that women’s lot and general socio-economic improvement of nations can be achieved through the acquisition of education and broad empowerment of women (Stephen, 1992; Palmer and Almaz, 1991; Caldwell, 1979). It is against this background that efforts to educate women in Nigeria have received a significant boost in recent times. Particularly worth mentioning in this regard is the efforts of informal groups and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in encouraging female education in theSouth and North of the country and the commitment ofstate governments in the North to an enhanced educationfor women. Some of these efforts manifest in the establishment of special schools for girls and women education units in the education ministry of many states in Nigeria.
Despite all these efforts women still lag considerably behindmen in education (Ezeani, 1996), but there has beenmarked closing of the gap as more and more women taketo formal education while some young men under theinfluence of distorted values in today’s Nigerian societyare lured away from schools.
As a result, the National Universities CommissionAnnual Reports since 1988 show a significant increase inthe female enrolment figures in Nigerian Universities asagainst what it was half a decade before then. In additionto this fact, female enrolment in post-primary schoolsespecially in Southern Nigeria has virtually caught up withmale enrolment. Education per say, is the main tool forimpacting skills and attitudes relevant to the contributionof the individual concerned to national development.
Ideally education trains manpower for the economy,helps to fully develop the potentials of individuals andhelp such individuals consummate employment opportunities(Ali, 1988; Okafor, 1971). In other words, formaleducation ideally enhances labour force participation ofwomen since education is a critical variable in modernwork situations. But more interesting is that educationbroadens experience of women and gives them access tonew resources and skills (Shaheed, 1995). But these loftyaims of education are fulfilled only where the individualoffers himself for employment and uses the opportunity ofemployment to make various contributions towards the development of his society.
Therefore, education acquired is only relevant to theextent it makes noticeable impact in the lives of theindividual and society. It is in this sense that we are concernedwith the ways and manner in which the growingeducational empowerment of women will affect the Nigeriansociety. This concern derives from the fact that womenhave always been seen as not only late comers to the labour market but as also marginal to the labour process.