Social Issues Nigerian Women Face

Women's social roles in Nigeria differ according to religious, cultural and geographic factors. Women's role is primarily understood as mothers, sisters, daughters and wives. Some major issues faced by Nigerian women are lack of financial stability, poverty, access to quality education, gender inequality, domestic violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation.
Factors influencing Social Issues Nigerian Women Face
Culture and religion play a big role in the oppression of women in Nigeria. Nigeria has many tribes, each with their own culture. However, there are three major ethnic groups in Nigeria, Yoruba, Hausa and Igbo. Dividing Nigeria geographically, it is observed that the Hausas are predominantly found in the north and the Yoruba people and Igbo people are found in the south. This division extends to religion. The two main religions practiced in Nigeria are Christianity and Islam which are predominantly found in the south and north respectively, there is an overlap of culture and religion. Twelve states in Northern Nigeria like Kano have Sharia Law as part of its constitution. Sharia law influences how women are seen and treated in these places. According to Sharia law, a woman's testimony is equivalent to half of a man's testimony in court. Women in northern Nigeria are more likely to be secluded in the home, while women in southern Nigeria participate more in public life.
Northern Nigeria
In the north, practices that were introduced in terms of women's position in society have been mainly as a result of colonialism and the introduction of salafism and wahhabism thought into the traditionally sufist region. This process has meant, generally, less formal education; early teenage marriages, especially in rural areas; and confinement to the household, which was often polygynous, except for visits to family, ceremonies, and the workplace, if employment were available and permitted by a girl's family or husband. For the most part, Hausa women did not work in the fields, whereas Kanuri women did; both helped with harvesting and were responsible for all household food processing.
Urban women sold cooked foods, usually by sending young girls out onto the streets or operating small stands. Research indicated that this practice was one of the main reasons city women gave for opposing schooling for their daughters. Even in elite houses with educated wives, women's presence at social gatherings was either nonexistent or very restricted. In the modern sector, a few women were appearing at all levels in offices, banks, social services, nursing, radio, television, and the professions (teaching, engineering, environmental design, law, pharmacy, medicine, and even agriculture and veterinary medicine).
This trend resulted from women's secondary schools, teachers' colleges, and in the 1980s women holding approximately one-fifth of university places—double the proportion of the 1970s. Research in the 1980s indicated that, for the Muslim north, education beyond primary school was restricted to the daughters of the business and professional elites, and in almost all cases, courses and professions were chosen by the family, not the woman themselves.
Southern Nigeria
In the south, women traditionally had economically important positions in interregional trade and the markets, worked on farms as major labour sources, and had influential positions in traditional systems of local organization. The south, like the north, had been polygamous; in 1990 it still was for many households, including those professing Christianity.
Women in the south, had received Western-style education since the nineteenth century, so they occupied positions in the professions and to some extent in politics. In addition, women headed households, something not seriously considered in Nigeria's development plans. Such households were more numerous in the south, but they were on the rise everywhere.
Progression of Statistics
Due to a lack of relevant data, the Gender Inequality Index of Nigeria has not been calculated. Gender Inequality in Nigeria is still being discussed today and more data about the topic is being gathered. As of 2019, Nigeria ranks 181 out of 193 countries ranked based on Gender Equality. In 2012, women in Nigeria held 6.7% of seats in parliament but as of 2020 hold only 5.8%. In 2017, women made up 50% of the Nigerian workforce but that number has dropped to 44.82% as of 2020. The global gender gap index of Nigeria as of 2020 is 0.635 which is slightly than the index in 2018 which was 0.62. While some of these figures increased, more of them declined which shows that gender inequality is increasing in Nigeria on some levels.
Social issues
Child marriage
Child marriage is common in Nigeria, with 44% of girls being married before their 18th birthday, and'18% before they turn 15. The Child's Rights Act however contradicted the Sharia Law adopted by some Nigerian states and so child marriage is legal in these states.
Abortion
Abortion occurs frequently in Nigeria although there are laws against it. About 456,000 abortions are performed illegally in Nigeria. In 2012, the rate of unwanted pregnancies was 59 unwanted pregnancies per 1000 women between the ages of 15 and 49 while the estimated abortion rate was 33 abortions per 1000 women between the ages of 15 and 49.
Polygamy
Twelve out of the thirty-six Nigerian states recognize polygamous marriages as being equivalent to monogamous marriages. All twelve states are governed by Islamic Sharia Law. The states, which are all northern, include the states of Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara which allows for a man to take more than one wife.
Elsewhere, both Christians and traditionalists in polygamous unions are recognized by customary law. These unions are contingent upon the absence of prior civil marriage, as bigamy technically applies, but even when present, men are seldom ever prosecuted for bigamy in Nigeria. According to the criminal code, bigamy is a felony and is liable to imprisonment for seven years.
Prostitution
Women's education
Women's advocacy
A national feminist movement was inaugurated in 1982, and a national conference held at Ahmadu Bello University. The purpose of this riot was to protest the method of governances which shut women out of political power.
For example, a feminist meeting in Ibadan came out against polygamy and then was soundly criticized by market women, who said they supported the practice because it allowed them to pursue their trading activities and have the household looked after at the same time. Research in the north indicated that many women opposed the practice, and tried to keep bearing children to stave off a second wife's entry into the household. Although women's status would undoubtedly rise, for the foreseeable future Nigerian women lacked the opportunities of men.
In July 2020, a group of 14 women came together to form an organization called the Feminist Coalition, their major aim being to fight for equality for Nigerian women. The founding members include Damilola Odufuwa, Odunayo Eweniyi, Layo Ogunbanwo, Ozzy Etomi, Ire Aderinokun, Fakhrriyyah Hashim, Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi, Jola Ayeye, Laila Johnson-Salami, Karo Omu, Obiageli Ofili Alintah, Tito Ovia, Kiki Mordi. Feyikemi Abudu was later announced as a member due to the exemplary response work she did during the #ENDSARS protests in Nigeria in October 2020.
Notable figures
Politics
* Amina J. Mohammed — Deputy Secretary-General of the U.N.
* Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki- Politician and philanthropist
* Florence Ita Giwa — Politician
* Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala — Economist, First Female Minister of Finance
* Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, activist
* Dora Akunyili - Former Minister of Information and Communication, Former Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria.
* Kemi Adeosun - Minister of Finance (November 2015 - 2018)
* Beni Lar, Member of Nigeria's House of Representatives and women's advocate
Business
* Bilikiss Adebiyi Abiola — Wecyclers CEO
* Folorunsho Alakija, businesswoman
* Sola David-Borha, Chief Executive (Africa Region) of Standard Bank
Entertainment
* Agbani Darego — Model and Beauty Queen
* Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — Writer
* Chioma Akpotha — Actress & Film Maker
* Folake Coker — Fashion Designer, Creative Director of Tiffany Amber
* Funke Akindele — Actress
* Genevieve Nnaji — Actress
* Helen Paul — Comedian
* Ireti Doyle — Actress
* Kiki Mordi - Media personality and journalist
* Onyinye Ough, author and activist
* Osonye Tess Onwueme — Playwright
* Mo Abudu, media personality
* Tiwa Savage - Entertainer
* Ufuoma McDermott — Actress & Film Maker
* Yemi Alade - Entertainer
Science
Notable scientists include:
* Ameyo Adadevoh - Nigerian physician
* Professor Grace Alele-Williams - Mathematician
* Francisca Nneka Okeke - Physicist<ref name=":2" />
* Deborah Ajakaiye - Geophysicists<ref name=":2" />
* Olabisi Ugbebor - Mathematician<ref name=":2" />
* Ayoka Olufunmilayo Adebambo - Animal Scientist<ref name=":2" />
* Adenike Osofisan - Computer Scientist<ref name=":2" />
* Folasade Ogunsola - Medical Scientist<ref name=":2" />
* Chinedum Peace Babalola - Pharmacist<ref name=":2" />
* Lucy Jumeyi Ogbadu - Microbiologist<ref name=":2" />
* Eucharia Oluchi Nwaichi, Ph.D - Environmental Biochemist<ref name=":2" />
* Stella Ifeanyi Smith, Ph.D - Microbiologist<ref name=":2" />
Bibliography
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