Nigerian Women Speak- A Gender Analysis of Government Policy on Women

Nigeria has acceded to several regional and international covenants promotingthe rights and well-being of women. In July 2000 it made an officialstatement of intent to promote gender equality by endorsing a NationalPolicy on Women. Yet the vast majority of women persist on the periphery ofeconomic and political life. In spite of a considerable degree of compatibilitybetween women's aspirations and the NPW particularly in terms ofaddressing immediate practical necessity awareness of its existence and thatof the new National Gender Policy remains low. Consequently there is noconcerted agenda to push for policy implementation. The Gender ManagementSystem put in place by the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs tooversee the mainstreaming of gender policy is undermined by institutionalisedand routinised gender bias and by systemic distortions in the widerpolicy environment.This book examines the relevance of the NPW to theaspirations of Nigerian women through their eyes. It explores the experiencesperspectives and collective agendas of women across class ethnicityand religion to discover their understandings of the present and visions forthe future. It also investigates the extent to which state institutionalcapability exists to implement gender policy and to mainstream genderperspectives as the policy stipulates. This book provides valuable resourcematerial for public policy analysts development practitioners and feministscholars of politics sociology economics anthropology and African culturalreligious and development studies.