Gender inequality in Nigeria

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Gender inequality refers to unequal treatment or perceptions of individuals wholly or partly due to their gender or sex. It arises from differences in socially constructed gender roles. Gender inequality in Nigeria is influenced by different cultures and beliefs. In most parts of Nigeria, women are considered subordinate to their male counterparts, especially in Northern Nigeria [1] as well as in other sectors including the Nigeria music industry, politics, and education sector. [2] It is generally believed that women are best suited as home keepers. [3] [4]

Contents

Article I of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR) provides: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. “ Article 2 of the UNDHR also re-emphasizes the equality of human persons as follows: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. [5]

Feminism in Nigeria

Feminism did not appear in Nigeria until roughly 60 years ago. This has been attributed to Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti. She was born in Ogun State, Nigeria, and was educated through the British schooling system. She supported and fought for women's rights, as well as for women to have a larger impact in the Nigerian government. She was a part of the WIDF (Women's International Democratic Federation), which helped more women to gain government positions, furthering what she wished to accomplish with women in Nigeria. Ransome-Kuti died in 1978. [6] However, Nwanyeruwa who had sparked the Aba Women’s Riots of 1929 as seen in British colonial records, could be considered by history to be the first well known feminist in Nigeria. She strategically executed an anti-colonial revolt alongside other women to redress social, political and economic inequality. The Aba Women’s war prompted colonial authorities to drop their plans to impose a tax on the market women. [7] [8]

One of Nigeria's well-known newspapers referred to her as "a progressive revolutionary" and "a Pan-African visionary." [9] After the death of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti other feminists like Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi and others Category:Nigerian feminists emerged.

Historically, feminist movements have tried to push agendas leading to more gender equality in Nigeria. Among the most known are Federation of Nigerian Women's Societies (FNWS), Women in Nigeria (WIN), Kudirat Initiative for Democracy (KIND), Female in Nigeria (FIN) and Feminist Coalition (a recent movement) Feminist Coalition. Still, most of them have failed to bring about significant political, social or economic growth. [10] However, new feminist movements and gender awareness are forming in Nigeria. [11] Online, women are using mobile phones for social capital building and empowerment as well as to access information and form relationships with communities they would not normally engage with. [12]

Feminist movement in Nigeria

After the Aba women's riot in 1929, the Feminist Movement in Nigeria covertly and unintentionally got its start. Women are now clearly present in all walks of life in Nigeria as a result of the extraordinary increase that has been observed throughout time. Nigerian women practice a form of feminism that views men as complementing partners in progress rather than as rivals. [13]

It is usually divided into three waves: the first wave, which dealt with voting rights and property rights; the second wave, which concentrated on equality and anti-discrimination; and the third wave, which began in the 1990s as a reaction to the second wave's alleged preference for white, straight women. Yoruba feminist scholar Oyeronke Oyewumi proposes that the transnational transfer of western concepts of gender, and subsequent gender roles, often does "little more than reproduce the patriarchal norms to which feminism developed out of opposition." [14]

Examples of contemporary feminist movements in Nigeria.

Aside from the Me Too movement, there have been other powerful hashtag campaigns, including Female in Nigeria, which urged women to speak out about the difficult conditions that women in that nation faced, Bring Back Our Girls, a drive to find hundreds of girls who had been abducted by the terrorist organization Boko Haram, and most recently No More, an initiative started by Nigerian activist Ireti Bakare-Yusuf that aims to put an end to sexual abuse and impunity. [15]

See also

Related Research Articles

Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern societies are patriarchal—they prioritize the male point of view—and that women are treated unjustly in these societies. Efforts to change this include fighting against gender stereotypes and improving educational, professional, and interpersonal opportunities and outcomes for women.

Anarcha-feminism, also known as anarchist feminism or anarcho-feminism, is a system of analysis which combines the principles and power analysis of anarchist theory with feminism. It closely resembles intersectional feminism. Anarcha-feminism generally posits that patriarchy and traditional gender roles as manifestations of involuntary coercive hierarchy should be replaced by decentralized free association. Anarcha-feminists believe that the struggle against patriarchy is an essential part of class conflict and the anarchist struggle against the state and capitalism. In essence, the philosophy sees anarchist struggle as a necessary component of feminist struggle and vice versa. L. Susan Brown claims that "as anarchism is a political philosophy that opposes all relationships of power, it is inherently feminist".

Equality feminism is a subset of the overall feminism movement and more specifically of the liberal feminist tradition that focuses on the basic similarities between men and women, and whose ultimate goal is the equality of both genders in all domains. This includes economic and political equality, equal access within the workplace, freedom from oppressive gender stereotyping, and an androgynous worldview.

This is an index of articles related to the issue of feminism, women's liberation, the women's movement, and women's rights.

The history of feminism comprises the narratives of the movements and ideologies which have aimed at equal rights for women. While feminists around the world have differed in causes, goals, and intentions depending on time, culture, and country, most Western feminist historians assert that all movements that work to obtain women's rights should be considered feminist movements, even when they did not apply the term to themselves. Some other historians limit the term "feminist" to the modern feminist movement and its progeny, and use the label "protofeminist" to describe earlier movements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Third-wave feminism</span> Feminist movement, 1990s–2020s

Third-wave feminism is a feminist movement that began in the early 1990s, prominent in the decades prior to the fourth wave. Grounded in the civil-rights advances of the second wave, Gen X third-wave feminists born in the 1960s and 1970s embraced diversity and individualism in women, and sought to redefine what it meant to be a feminist. The third wave saw the emergence of new feminist currents and theories, such as intersectionality, sex positivity, vegetarian ecofeminism, transfeminism, and postmodern feminism. According to feminist scholar Elizabeth Evans, the "confusion surrounding what constitutes third-wave feminism is in some respects its defining feature."

Transnational feminism refers to both a contemporary feminist paradigm and the corresponding activist movement. Both the theories and activist practices are concerned with how globalization and capitalism affect people across nations, races, genders, classes, and sexualities. This movement asks to critique the ideologies of traditional white, classist, western models of feminist practices from an intersectional approach and how these connect with labor, theoretical applications, and analytical practice on a geopolitical scale.

Dr. Bekolari Ransome-Kuti was a Nigerian physician known for his work as a human rights activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti</span> Nigerian activist (1900–1978)

Chief Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, MON ; born Frances Abigail Olufunmilayo Olufela Folorunso Thomas; 25 October 1900 – 13 April 1978), also known as Funmilayo Aníkúlápó-Kuti, was a Nigerian educator, political campaigner, suffragist, and women's rights activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margaret Ekpo</span> Nigerian womens rights activist and social mobilizer

Chief Margaret Ekpo was a Nigerian women's rights activist and social mobilizer who was a pioneering female politician in the country's First Republic and a leading member of a class of traditional Nigerian women activists, many of whom rallied women beyond notions of ethnic solidarity. She played major roles as a grassroots and nationalist politician in the Eastern Nigerian city of Aba, in the era of a hierarchical and male-dominated movement towards independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African feminism</span> Type of feminism

African feminism includes theories and movements which specifically address the experiences and needs of continental African women. From a western perspective, these theories and movements fall under the umbrella label of Feminism, but this categorization is misleading for many branches of African "feminism". African women have been engaged in gender struggle since long before the existence of the western-inspired label "African feminism," and this history is often neglected. Despite this caveat, this page will use the term feminism with regard to African theories and movements in order to fit into a relevant network of Wikipedia pages on global feminism. Because Africa is not a monolith, no single feminist theory or movement reflects the entire range of experiences African women have. African feminist theories are sometimes aligned, in dialogue, or in conflict with Black Feminism or African womanism. This page covers general principles of African feminism, several distinct theories, and a few examples of feminist movements and theories in various African countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist movements and ideologies</span>

A variety of movements of feminist ideology have developed over the years. They vary in goals, strategies, and affiliations. They often overlap, and some feminists identify themselves with several branches of feminist thought.

The Abeokuta Women's Revolt was a resistance movement led by the Abeokuta Women's Union (AWU) in the late 1940s against the imposition of unfair taxation by the Nigerian colonial government. The women of Abeokuta believed that, under colonialism, their economic roles were declining, while their taxes were increasing. Additionally, they argued that until they were granted representation in local government, they should not be required to pay taxes separately from men. As a result of their protests, four women received seats on the local council, and the taxation of women was ended.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist movement</span> Series of political campaigns for reforms on feminist issues

The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for radical and liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and women. Such issues are women's liberation, reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. The movement's priorities have expanded since its beginning in the 1800s, and vary among nations and communities. Priorities range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country, to opposition to the glass ceiling in another.

The following is a timeline of the history of feminism.

White feminism is a term which is used to describe expressions of feminism which are perceived as focusing on white women while failing to address the existence of distinct forms of oppression faced by ethnic minority women and women lacking other privileges. Whiteness is crucial in structuring the lived experiences of white women across a variety of contexts. The term has been used to label and criticize theories that are perceived as focusing solely on gender-based inequality. Primarily used as a derogatory label, "white feminism" is typically used to reproach a perceived failure to acknowledge and integrate the intersection of other identity attributes into a broader movement which struggles for equality on more than one front. In white feminism, the oppression of women is analyzed through a single-axis framework, consequently erasing the identity and experiences of ethnic minority women in the space. The term has also been used to refer to feminist theories perceived to focus more specifically on the experience of white, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied women, and in which the experiences of women without these characteristics are excluded or marginalized. This criticism has predominantly been leveled against the first waves of feminism which were seen as centered around the empowerment of white middle-class women in Western societies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abeokuta Grammar School</span> Public school in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria

Abeokuta Grammar School is a secondary school in the city of Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. It is currently located at Idi-Aba area, of Abeokuta. Often called the first grammar school in Nigeria, it is attended by students from all parts of Nigeria, the West Coast of Africa, South Africa, Europe and even Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Soyinka</span> Nigerian shopkeeper and activist (1908–1983

Grace Eniola Soyinka was a Nigerian shopkeeper, activist, and member of the aristocratic Ransome-Kuti family.

Janet Okala (1894–1971) was a Nigerian political leader and community organiser. She led protests during the Aba Women's War, and formed local and nationally-linked organisations to advocate for Nigerian women's political power.

Fran Kuboye was a Nigerian singer, dentist, TV personality and women's rights activist who co-founded the Jazz 38 club in Lagos and the Extended Family Jazz Band. Born into the Ransome-Kuti family, she was the granddaughter of Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, and niece of Fela Kuti.

References

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  5. United Nations. "Universal Declaration of Human Rights". United Nations. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  6. "Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti » African Feminist Forum". African Feminist Forum. 14 March 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  7. Anazia, Daniel (9 February 2019). "Aba women's riots made into new film, 1929". The Guardian. Nigeria. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  8. Evans, Marissa (27 March 2009). "Aba Women's Riots (November-December 1929)". BlackPast.org . Retrieved 2 July 2022.
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  11. Searcey, Dionne (16 December 2017). "Beyond Boko Haram's Reach, Love and Feminism Flourish". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
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  13. Ada, Fwangyil Gloria (2011). "A Critical Survey of Selected Texts on the Growth of Feminism in Nigeria". Lwati: A Journal of Contemporary Research. 8 (3). doi:10.4314/lwati.v8i3. ISSN   1813-2227.
  14. Dabiri, Emma (28 November 2017). "Re-Imagining Gender in Nigeria". Norient. Norient. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  15. "Feminism in Nigeria – By and for who?". Zeitschrift Luxemburg (in German). 28 September 2018. Retrieved 10 March 2023.