1.0 Introduction:
1.1 Background Of The Study:
Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women.
Gender concept simply refers to the socially-determined and culturally-specific differences between women and men as opposed to the biologically determined differences.
Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary 6th edition sees gender as the fact of being male or female; gender specific or issue is connected with women only or with men only.
Reeves and baden (2000)sees gender as the “socially determined ideas and practices of what it is to be female or male; these ideas and practices are sanctioned and reinforced by a host of cultural, political and economic institutions including household, legal and governance structure, markets and religion.
Russo et al (2004) see gender as socio-economic variables which aid the analysis of roles, responsibilities, constraints and opportunities of both men and women.
Gender which is commonly used interchangeably with ‘sex’ within the academic fields of cultural studies, gender studies and the social sciences in general; often refers to purely social rather than biological differences, this means that ‘gender roles’ are formed through socialization. Meanwhile, the concept gender, is an important analytical tool in the planning, management, monitoring and evaluation of development programs or cooperative projects as requires that women are considered in relation to men in a socio − cultural setting and not as an isolated group.
Gender roles focuses on household and community roles because gender roles are different in any society, this is because in each society, there are functions of what women and men of that society are expected to do in their adult life. Since gender roles are formed through socialization, children are socialized to internalize these roles; girls and boys are prepared for their different but specific roles. Gender roles can be defined as the roles that are played by both women and men which are not determined by biological factors, but by the socio-economic and cultural environment or situation. Men and women are also characterized by different roles which mean that men take the lead in productive activities, and women in reproductive activities, where the latter include the reproduction of the family and even of society itself. Obviously, women and men’s roles and responsibilities are separate but they complement one another.
UNDP (1995) Opined that ‘gender’ is an economic issue as well as a social issue, in fact more so in Africa than in any other Region and that both men and women play substantial economic roles, notably in Agriculture and in the informal sector, but they are not evenly distributed across the sectors of the economy.
Word Bank (2000)on economic roles of men and women in Africa asked, if Africa can claim the 21st century?, a study made the argument that Africa has enormous unexploited potentials. It has hidden growth reserves in its people, including the potential of its women, who now provide more than half the Region’s labour but lack equal access to education and factors of production. The study concludes that gender equality can be a potent force for accelerated poverty reduction in Africa and Nigeria in particular.
Although ‘gender’ and ‘women’ are often used interchangeably, they are not one in the same .However, most gender analyses usually find that women are disproportionately disadvantaged, that is why the majority of gendered interventions target women. As a result of this, the discussions on gender roles at household and community level revealed that women do all the reproductive work as well as most of the productive work. Women have a bigger share of community roles. Women are continuously taking up roles that were traditionally considered men’s; for example in building. Finally both men and women agreed
that some men are not taking sufficient responsibility in the homes and that this is one of the reasons why women take up such responsibilities in view of the well being of their families; that is ,if a man does not care about building or repairing the family house, the woman has to do so because she cannot continue living under a leaking house which is unsafe for the family. This entails that most of the economic activities are in the hands of women; also, women’s activities are often constrained to household and community management activities like child care, food preparation, subsistent agriculture e.t.c.
This is why Moser(1993)refers to women as assuming a triple role, that is ,they are responsible for reproductive, productive and community management activities, and receive little recognition for their unpaid work. Therefore, women, the poor, religious or ethnic minorities may face significant constraints in their attempt to participate in collective action. Women’s exclusion from participation may be a direct result of gender norms, or can emerge from other factors that are determined by such norms. In a study of mixed-sex agricultural cooperatives in Nicaragua,mayoux found women’s participation limited to involvement as day labourers; when women attempt to make their voices heard or gain management positions, they were perceived by others(men and women)as attempting to step out of their appropriate social role.
