Gender mainstreaming: A strategy for women’s right actualisation in Nigeria

Abstract

The demand for greater women’s rights has been an elusive phenomenon in Nigeria. Despite the array of international, regional and national frameworks which promote gender equality, challenges still exist and women in Nigeria still face widespread inequality in comparison with their male counterparts. Nigerian women still have their basic human rights grossly abused. From domestic violence, denial of inheritance rights, discrimination at the workplace, female genital mutilation, poor political representation etc. The gender mainstreaming strategy was recommended at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 and established as the global strategy for promoting gender equality. This was necessitated by the failure of past strategies to enhance women’s right over the past decades. This article exposes some of the factors that impede the implementation of the gender mainstreaming strategy in Nigeria, which includes; Patriarchy, religion, Government poor political will in enforcing women’s right issues and non-domestication of ratified international instruments. It further proffers aspects in which Government, institutions and the society can apply the strategy to eliminate gender inequality and promote the actualisation of women’s right in Nigeria. The article concludes that a sustainable implementation of the gender mainstreaming strategy will enhance women’s rights actualisation.