Culture, religion and women’s socio-economic needs in the 21st century Nigeria

Abstract

This paper on culture, religion and women‘s socio-economic needs in 2st century Nigeria explores the place of the woman through the two major religions in Nigeria: Christianity and Islam. The two religions permit the woman to own or inherit certain properties either from their fathers or late husbands. A woman is even allowed to buy properties provided she has the means. However, culture restricts the woman from owning certain properties in Nigeria. When culture comes to play the woman is relegated to the background. The woman is only meant to be seen and not to be heard. In some Nigeria‘s custom sand traditions culture is often used as a tool for justifying the violations of women‘s rights especially in the areas of marriage and property, reflecting deepseated patriarchal structures and harmful gender stereotypes. The paper is anchored on Abraham Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs. Abraham Maslow as a renowned researcher in the study of human needs and motivation, came up with his famous hierarchy of needs theory with a proposal that people are motivated by five levels of needs namely: (1) Physiological needs (2) Safety needs (3) Love and belonging needs (4) Esteem and prestige needs (5) Self-actualization needs. Two additional levels of needs namely: (6) Understanding needs and (7) Aesthetic needs were later included in Abraham Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs. The focus of Abraham Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs is now on motivation of people by seven (7) levels of needs in human environment. The emphasis on Abraham Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs is that there are certain basic needs which must be met before other needs can, indeed, be considered in human environment, especially in the case of women in Nigeria. Abraham Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs further focuses on exploration of human desire to address people‘s needs in order to improve their living conditions in human environment. No man is an island unto himself in Nigeria. Social groupings, associations, affiliations and belongings which are based on love are needed to enhance harmonious human co-existence in both genders. This gives people the courage and confidence to contribute or stand up to women‘s needs to improve their living conditions. This paper helps to equip the place of women‘s in Nigeria with a better understanding of Abraham Maslow‘s hierarchy of needs and its application to real life situations of needs among women in Nigeria. The paper reveals that, culturally, women are viewed as inferior to men, and a male-child is generally celebrated and allotted higher portions of properties. However, the tenets of both Islam and Christianity do not disregard the woman in terms of right to own properties.