EXAMINATION OF TRENDS, BARRIERS AND ENHANCEMENT STRATEGIES FOR WOMEN’S ACCESS TO UNIVERSITY EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1      BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY In this competitive global economy, university education is critical in the twenty-first century for a resourceful economy. It is a dynamic tool for preparing an economy’s employable workforce. Individual and societal benefits of university education include the ability to be employed, earn a higher salary, and move up the career ladder. Other advantages include a higher standard of living, better health, and more opportunities in life. With the personal and societal benefits of education in mind, youth access and gender equality are critical to achieving personal goals and social justice. According to UNESCO’s principles, every child should have equal access to education (principle of non-discrimination), regardless of race, gender, or economic or social differences (UNESCO’s homepage). As a result, there is a pressing need to promote educational equity. Why because a female who is denied access to education based on some factors like religion, family background, etc represents a loss of human capital for society. The absence of access to university education and its success contributes to underdeveloped human resources. The argument that women in traditional Nigerian society are discriminated is much discussed by scholars of history of education in the country. It has been discovered from findings that women contribute immensely to national and international development of a country (Sator, 1992; Ekejiuba, 1991; Okonjo, 1991). The barrier placed on Nigerian women calls for much attention. Yet it is quite obvious that women are more involved than men in most areas of the economy, like in agricultural which was in the 90’s the mainstay of Nigerians (Adeyokunu, 1981). Despite this, women are victims of social order and treated as second class citizens of the country. They are discriminated in the education sector, labour market, and political sphere. This discrimination has led to the increase in poverty, as their rights are suppressed and education deprived which is needed to improve their state of living. A very obvious area where Nigerian women face imbalance is in the education sector. This mismatch in the education sector has provided significant leeway for various types of discrimination amongst them (Afigbo, 1991). However, numerous research have revealed that socio-economic progress of nations may be considerably achieved by women education and empowerment (Stephen, 1992; Palmer and Almaz, 1991; Caldwell, 1979). Little wonder Rathgeber (2003), in his study emphasized the problem that there is need to incorporate women in social and economic growth. It is because to this that there have been initiatives to boost women education in Nigeria in recent years. A prominent example is the work of informal organizations and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs), who via their programmes have encouraged female education in the north and south sections of the nation; alongside efforts by the state governments of the north to promote education for women. For instance the development of female schools in different states of the country. Furthermore, the National Universities Commission Annual Reports since 1988 demonstrate a respectable improvement in female education in Nigeria compared to what it was several decades before. Similarly, it is noteworthy that the numbers of girls that are in post-primary education have gotten up to the number of boys in southern Nigeria. The standing of women in sub-Saharan African universities portrays women’s position in the society. Women in sub-Saharan Africa are underrepresented in education and those of them that force their way to be educated opt for courses that are termed “female courses” like arts, education and social sciences course. On graduation, women are faced with inadequate paying jobs, unemployment and less prospects to grow. Meanwhile, the major purpose of education is to build a powerful labor force of a country. Thus, if Nigerian and African women as a whole are provided access to education, it would widen their abilities and offer them access to new resources; this is an added advantage to the economy (Shaheed, 1995). Globally, it is anticipated that women labour force participation has climbed from 36 percent in 1990 to 40 percent by 1997 (Razavi, 2003). Recent figures reveal that, internationally during the last five decades women’s labour force participation has grown and women today make up over 45 percent of the world’s workforce with more women than ever before engaged in the labour force or actively hunting for jobs (ILO, 2007). But aside the above overall picture country specific data from the ILO and United Nations Population Division (EFA Global Monitoring Report, 2003/04) reveal considerable rise in female labour force participation in such countries as Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand. However, in other to promote women’s access to university education in Nigeria: trends, impediments and enhancing methods, this study is being carried out. 1.2      STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Over time, gender inequality has always been a global problem and it is still noticeable in the education system of Nigeria. For some obvious reasons in Nigeria, women are not granted access to education because of religion, family background, unstable income, etc. Before now, it was believed that women education ends in the kitchen. Some Nigerian parents still stick to this saying that they cut-off their female children from going to school. They see as waste of resources sending a female child to school, as she will definitely be married off to a man. Another problem associated with this study is the problem of admission. In Nigerian universities, the trend of giving admission is against the females. They are discriminated from studying some courses because of their sex. Therefore is against this backdrop that this study seeks to examination of trends, barriers and enhancement strategies for women’s access to university education in Nigeria. 1.3   OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY                           The major objective of this study is to examine trends, barriers and enhancement strategies for women’s access to university education in Nigeria.Other specific objectives include: i.          To investigate the extent  at which women have access to education in Nigeria. ii.        To examine factors that poses as  barrier to women assess to education. iii.      To discover the consequences of women’s lack of access to education in Nigeria. iv.      To examine how to expand access to women’s university education in Nigeria.

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