Religion, gender and development: emerging issues

Abstract

The term gender simply means the classification of people into male and female, but it is more than that. Gender classification includes what society expects from each of the sexes: both biological and social responsibilities. Nature has bestowed upon the female gender certain natural and social expectations which include: child-bearing, household duties, planting, harvesting and processing of agricultural produce. This could be summarized as production and reproduction. Likewise, the male has the major responsibility, as the head of the household, of taking care of the family. It is in this light that this study looks at the religion perspective of gender to the development of Nigeria. The study made use of primary data via the administration of two hundred questionnaires to respondents. The result shows that both the males and females are essential in the development of Nigeria.

Keywords: Religion, Gender and Development