Education and Gender Inequality: A Nigerian Perspective

Abstract

In recent years, popular media and researchers have given attention to gender inequality and education (Campbell and Sanders 1997). For example, a recent report by the Daily Independent supports this viewpoint in its headline: “600 Nigerian Girls Bag US Scholarship” (2003). Education and gender inequality in Nigeria have focused on a variety of physical, social, and cognitive contexts. Over the years, authorities have changed their theoretical platform. This has resulted in continuous discrimination of women, and widened socio-economic inequalities in the country with disastrous effects. It has not only fueled national and social problems, but it has retarded development and political empowerment. The downside to gender inequality is that it has set in motion: educational disparity, low employment among women, and limited their potential for sustainable economic development.


Gender and Behaviour Vol. 2 2004: 215-224