Cultural Explanations Of The Status Of Nigerian Women

Abstract

This paper focuses on the subordinate position of Nigerian women in the culture of male supremacy gender inequality/discrimination and socio- cultural environment which acts against the principles of social justice and equality enshrined in the Nigerian constitution. Culture is presented here as a strong explanatory variable in understanding the predominant gender ideology in the Nigerian society. But can we attribute the relative low position of women compared to men to the traditional past ? were there areas of social relations where gender roles were balanced ? the truth of the matter is that Nigerian women are socialized into a culture of gender inequality which is almost taken as normal. However Nigeria is equally responding to the present awareness created by the united Nations on the woman's question, which dates back to the women's decade of 1975-1985, and made more rigorous by the Beijing platform for action in 1995. There is need for us to bridged the gap that currently exists between women and men, thus the mere fact that the women's issues have come into the national and international agenda is itself a success.

Keywords: Nigerian; cultural; status; women

JORIND Vol. 6 (1) 2008: pp. 4-4