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GENDER EMPOWERNMENT AND SOCIETY

INTRODUCTION

Gender empowerment on a wider scale is the empowerment of people on any gender. But in our
society gender empowerment can be redefined as the empowerment of a woman. In our society,
our cultural encumbrance has labeled or portrayed in this sense, females as inferior to males, this
simply means females are portrayed as the weaker body, and gender empowerment stands to
remove all cultural encumbrances concerning the females.

A popular cliché notes “that when you empower a man, you empower an individual; when you
empower a woman you empower a nation”. For instance, in African society mothers play a
critical role in the life of a child be it nurturing, socializing and educating

Gender empowerment in other words is the empowerment of people of any gender. While
conventionally being reduced to its aspect of empowerment of women, the concept stresses the
distinction between biological sex and gender as a role, also referring to other marginalized and
genders in a particular political or social context

Gender empowerment has become a significant topic of discussion in regards to development

and economics. Entire nations, business, communities, groups can benefit from the
implementations of programs and policies that adopt the notion women empowerment.
Empowerment is one of the main procedural concerns when addressing human rights and
development. The Human Development and Capabilities Approach, The Millennium
Development Goals, and other credible approach/goals point to empowerment and participation
as a necessary step if a country is to overcome the obstacles associated with poverty and
development.

Gender empowerment can be measured through the Gender Empowerment Measure, or the
GEM. The GEM shows women’s participation in a given nation, both politically and
economically. GEM is calculated by tracking “the share of seats in parliament held by women; of
female legislator, senior officials and managers; and of female profession and technical workers;
and the gender disparity in earned income, reflecting economic independence”. It then ranks
countries given this information. Other measures that take into account the importance of female
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participation and equality include the Gender Parity System and gender development index
(GDI).

CONCEPTUAL ISSUES

Gender: gender according to oxford dictionary refers to classes of nouns designated as

masculine, feminine, or neuter. In most languages, the words gender and sex could be used to
describe the state of being male or female but nevertheless, both have a slight difference. Sex
tends to refer to the biological difference in male and female while gender tends to refer to the
social or cultural difference in male and female

Empowerment: empowerment is diverse and can be defined differently nevertheless, the

meaning still stands. Empowerment refers to the bestowing of independence and self-
determination on people to represent their interest in a responsible and self-determined way,
acting on their own right.

Adams in the year 2008 referred empowerment as the capacity of individuals, groups and/or
communities to take control of their circumstances, exercise power and achieve their own goal
and the process by which, individually and collectively they are able to help themselves and
others to maximize the quality of their lives.

Lastly, empowerment does not induce power, because generally everyone is born with power,
freewill, capability all in the wealth of their knowledge. By this, empowerment simply provides
the necessary/sufficient conditions for people to actualize their potentials.

Society: society according to oxford dictionary refers to a long standing group of people sharing
cultural aspects and norms such as language, dress, norms of behaviors and artistic forms.

Society can also be defined as a group of people who meet from time to time to engage in
common interest. A society could include an organization or an association, in general, a society
could mean any embodiment that comprises of more than one persons that meets collectively or
engage in matters that concern them collectively. Luzbetaks (1990) that a society is organized,
interacting more 5of less self-sufficient groupings of human beings who share continuity
generations
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Gender empowerment according to Khanday, Bilal, Pervaz and Parvaiz(2015), is the process by
which girls and women gain equal share or control over resources and power including access to
money and voice in the decision making processes in the home, community, society and nation.

Gender empowerment means equipping girls and women to be economically independent or self-
reliant, to have positive self-esteem that enable them to face difficult situations and to participate
in developmental activities. If women are to achieve physical and emotional wellbeing through
quality in political, economic, social and cultural rights, four conditions are fundamental (stone,
2013) they are:

1. The power to control their own lives within and outside then home. This component
endows women with the freedom to pursue employment and maintain an income.
2. Access to opportunities and resources. This component enables women to increase
financial and non-financial assets and resources, including savings, title deeds, business
acquisitions, food, healthcare and family planning needs
3. The right to have and to determine choices. This component is critical to women’s
choices within the household and marriage, including choices on the use of earnings,
justification in refusing sexual intercourse and decisions about how many children to
have.
4. A sense of self-worth. This component is relevant in domestic violence and the
development of confidence at home and the society.

THEORIES OF GENDER

There are three aspects of gender which is considered by theories

(a) Gender as an organizing principle of all societies

(b) Gender as a social nature construct
(c) Gender theory as denoting the politics of inequality
(d) Referring to the first, gender resides in social institutions and they reflect in all social,
economic, political and relationships.
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(e) The second one focuses on how woman's labor participates in Nigeria the areas of work
and also looking at the difference in the behaviors and attitudes between men and
women.
(f) The third one talk about social inequality, the difference between different genders is not
always seen to be natural.

We should note that based on the roles played by individuals of different genders, theorists try to
explain the inequality between them in relation to how both genders acquires wealth, power and
privilege in Nigeria wherever they found themselves.

They are some of the theories used to explain inequality between the male and female gender are
being listed with definitions:

1. The Functionalist Theory: The functionalist see the society as part which come together to
form a complex system, and the part which works together to achieve what we know as
solidarity. The functionalist is also known as structural functionalist.

A proponent Talcott person suggested that this inequality between males and females exist so as
to create division of labor. The functionalist argues that every part of this system are interrelated
because they come together to ensure a smooth operation. They are specific roles that are
assigned to the men and women in their society, thus times either strengthens or calls for
competition.

2. Cross-Cultural Theory: in defining gender roles this theory holds culture as critical culture is
about the world's view of people.

Tyler defines culture as the "the complex whole" totality of man's acquisition of knowledge,
morals, beliefs, arts, custom, technology etc. The way members of the community behave is
caused by that we know as culture. We should note that gender roles are learned and internalized
through the process of socialization.

3. Symbolic Interactions Theory: Social gathering of meeting like churches, clubs which brings
about social interaction sustains inequality among genders. This inequality between men and
women causes men to talk more and even interrupt when woman are speaking, women are seen
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as polite and reserved which make them seen as weak. The main idea behind this theory is that
women acquire sense of inferiority through this gender role socialization.

4. Feminist Theory: The feminist advocate for gender equality through the reintegration of
women into all critical areas or spheres of life through the elimination of gender stratification as
a means to achieve this equal rights and justice. Those critical areas like education, civil, and
work rights. Feminist therefore seek to reconstruct the numerous social and cultural institutions
that poses as patriarchal structures in order to give women equal rights in all spheres of life.

FORMS OF GENDER EMPOWERMENT

Empowerment can appear in various forms namely

1. Economic Empowerment: economic empowerment is the economic leverage granted to a

previously disadvantaged section of the population. As it regards women economic
empowerment can be regarded as the degree to which the increase she access to economic
resource of women have translated into changes in the strategic choices they make at the level of
the household, workplace age society at large.

(a) It also implies women power over economic decision that influences their lives and properties
in society.

(b) It also relates that for one to achieve a better economic empowerment, women must have
access to and control of resources like land and other natural resources.

2. Political Empowerment: political empowerment entails breaking down the barriers and
entitlement; this means that is the capacity related to analyse, organise, mobilise and participate
in collective action for change related to empowerment of citizens to claim their rights and
entitlement.

This could be inform of right to vote and be voted for (Franchise), voice and inductive opinions
or the right to be appointed to political office. Not only women, this plays an important role in
democratic of all persons
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3. Religious Empowerment: in this aspect of empowerment all human should be allowed to

participate free in religions. Practices like in Christian religion before women are not recognized
in participation even though in the history, they almost contributed to the upliftment of
Christianity, also in other religions. It involves that all gender should be allowed to take part in
religious affairs that was previously biased.

4. Educational Empowerment: women are disadvantaged educationally especially in

underdeveloped and developing nations where education for the girl-child has hitherto been
considered unworthy. Some also relate that educating a girl who will eventually marry is
considered a waste of resources. Access to education to all empowers everyone to actualise
his/her potentials and make meaningful contribution to the society.

Education is said to be particularly the foundation or bedrock of development because various

forms of women empowerment are internalised and propagated through it. It means that
education is essential and necessary since aspect of gender empowerment; legal, political,
economic, religious or social are inculcated in people’s consciousness through learning.

5. Social Empowerment: In social empowerment, all gender are registered and treated equally.
No gender is subordinate and feels superior or inferior over the other in all social and cultural
practices. Gender empowerment in the social arena is a process that helps women including girls
to gain control over their own lives, being able to get on issues that are important for their lives.
Examples of this scenario are in any social gathering, women’s opinion is mostly neglected,
which acts inferiority to women.

BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES TO GENDER EMPOWERMENT

Gender inequality in Nigeria’s educational development may have been occasioned by the
obvious discrimination again in most parts of the world. Gender discrimination hinders access to
education, empowerment and development. Some of the challenges to gender empowerment are:

ILLITERACY: in Nigeria, preference is given to the education of male children by some

families and this gives rise to greater number and percentage of male children being enrolled in
school than their female counterparts. To some people, especially in the rural areas, female
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education ends in the kitchen and therefore does not encourage their female children to have
access to education. Women are unfairly represented at all levels of the educational system.
Some of the factors militating against women education to include the following.

(a) Preference given to the education of males

(b) Early/child/forced marriages
(c) Sex stereotyping in certain responsibilities/careers
(d) Belief that women do not perpetuate the family nature
(e) Poverty
(f) Lack of proper education of parents
(g) Early unwanted pregnancy/child labor/sexual harassment.

In Nigeria, education remains the basic constraints to women development. This is as a result of
the preference for male education and anti-women education traces which are still visible in
some parts of Nigeria, particularly the far North.
1. SOCIO-CULTURAL FACTOR: It needs to be observed that socio-cultural factor
constitutes an impediment to women education in Nigeria, leading to gender inequality on our
educational development. Various cultures restrict the role of women to domestic activities, such
as keeping the home clean, bearing children, cooking food for the entire family members etc.
The society as at today sees these roles as less important as they require less extensive formal
education for one to be able to perform them. This unfortunate misconception has been a major
obstacle to women development in Nigeria.

2. PARENTAL ATTITUDE: There is no doubt that the parental attitude towards the education
of girl-children is responsible for the gender inequality in Nigeria’s educational development. In
some parts of Nigeria, particularly in Igbo land, there exists a discriminatory tendency against
the girl-child’s education in favour of the boy-child education. Some parents are actually
reluctant investing on education of girl-children since they do not see the wisdom of providing
education for their daughters who would eventually get married and leave their families. Such
parents out of ignorance regard the money spent on women education as a waste. However, the
male child is regarded as the heir apparent and valuable asset to the family. This therefore makes
parents to send their male children to schools without minding the amount of money invested in
their education. Although some modern parents now send their female children to schools, many
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of them still prefer their male children to read professional courses in tertiary institutions instead
of their female children.
3. EARLY MARRIAGE: This also contributes to gender inequality in our educational system.
According to Country Review Mission (CRM), early marriage for girls is sanctioned by cultural
and religious beliefs which deprive girls of school to attain the skills needed for an empowering
adult livelihood. The practice has contributed greatly to the lesser proportion of girls in school
enrolments and the poor retention of girls in the school system especially in the secondary and
tertiary Levels. In 2004, about 12 percent of girls between 10 and 14 years were married
compared to 1 percent of boys of the same age. This situation contravenes the Federal
Governments Child’s Right Act 2003, which established 18 years as a minimum age for
marriage. This shows that rights given in Federal Laws may not be adhered to at the level of the
state.

4. HIGH COST OF LIVING: List of living in Nigeria today has made it almost impossible for
the average Nigerian families to train all their children in tertiary institutions. This therefore calls
for parent’s consideration of the cost implication of educating male and female children.
Empirical evidence from Kanyuka (1992), cited in Ikpenwa (2005), revels that “it is really
cheaper to train male children because of the discrepancy in their educational training cost which
does not exist in the tuition fees but in the maintenance of female students” it is naturally
believed that female students spend more money on clothing, transportation, personal hygiene,
shoes, secured accommodation and so on. To this end, economic factor remains a serious barrier
to female education hence the gender inequality in our educational development.

5. RELIGIOUS BELIEFS: Is also one of the factors that contribute to gender inequality in
Nigeria’s educational development. Various religious leaders perceive women in different ways,
as some believe that women should be confined to their houses (a situation close to false
imprisonment). This therefore makes it difficult for young girls to acquire basic formal
education. However, there are religious groups that do not encourage discriminatory practices
against women education such as Christian religion. Thus, the educational gap, though closing, is
still too wide for comfort in today’s world and its expectations, more so as there is parity in the
population of males and females in Nigeria.
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WOMEN EMPOWERMENT PRINCIPLES

These principles are the result of collaboration between the UN Global Compact and UN
Women, and are adapted from the Calvert Women's Principles®. They are informed by real-life
business practices and input gathered from across the globe. These Principles also can inform
other stakeholders, including governments, as they engage with business.

Take action across all seven Principles:

Principle 1: Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality

Principle 2: Treat all women and men fairly at work – respect and support human rights and
nondiscrimination

Principle 3: Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers

Principle 4: Promote education, training and professional development for women

Principle 5: Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that
empower women

Principle 6: Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy

Principle 7: Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.

INTEGRATING WOMEN PERSPECTIVES IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR

DEVELOPMENT

Gender equality matters for growth and private sector development. In most countries women are
the majority in poverty, the informal economy and unpaid work. This is due to the fact that
women’s economic contribution at both micro and macro levels is often constrained by the legal
and regulatory environment imposed by governments. Most governments do not understand
women’s specific needs and constraint of simply fail to take them into account. Certain
legislation, such as inheritance law, can also reduce the opportunities for women to initiate,
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succeed within or to expand business. With limited property rights, lack of access to finance is a
particularly grave problem for many women entrepreneurs. Sometimes country specific laws
explicitly restrict women’s ability to get credit. In such countries, gender specific discrimination
in laws compounds the effect of complex regulations.

Consider the situation in Yemen. Because of personal status codes, a woman would not be able
to travel abroad for business without her husband’s written permission to obtain a passport and to
travel. Moreover, research shows that women-owned businesses face severe bureaucratic barriers
in areas such as taxation and customs. Female-owned micro, small and medium sized enterprises
(MSMEs) are less likely to register their businesses. Further, they perceive tax rates, tax
administration and customs as greater constraints to business growth than men do, because these
areas require greater interactions with government officials. Evidence from Uganda suggests that
women are time poor, less mobile, and are soft target for bribes: 43 percent of female
entrepreneurs reported harassment from government officials, while only 25 percent of all
entrepreneurs did.

Thus, the failure to adequately understand the impact of gender on business opportunities hinders
women to realize their full economic potential. Too often, well-meaning donors do not take
women perspectives in the business environment into account. Thereby they are unwittingly
exacerbating barriers to female entrepreneurship and hindering poverty reduction, if the support
or business environment reform does not aim on gender equality. In order to support the
establishment and expansion of activities of women in the private sector the following steps are
necessary.

Steps for action

The donor community and international organizations could provide support in the followings
areas:

1. Make donor business development support guidelines reflect existing research results,
which reveals common and consistent barriers to enterprise development from a woman’s
perspective. Based on these insights, investigate which reforms concerning business
regulations have the largest impact on women and facilitate the sharing of lessons and
experience.
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2. Support the efforts of governments to implement new legislation and policy aimed
enhancing of women’s (land and property) rights and support media campaigns to
improve in the legal reality.
3. Strengthens the skills and support the establishment, organization and services of women
business organizations and NGOs that focus on the integration of women in the private
sector.
4. Support their understanding and participation in policy design and law making processes
and working closely with traditional authorities and community leaders.
5. Establish gender responsive business development services (e,g GET Ahead for Women
in Enterprise Training Package and Resource Kit) and improves women’s access to the
same.
6. Support research h based advocacy to promote land and property rights of women
7. Improve women’s access especially to secondary and tertiary education. Foster reforms
of school curricula to provide knowledge and incentives for girls and young women to
become entrepreneurs.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

For well balanced and sustainable social development, men and women must have equal
rights, responsibilities and opportunities: gender equality. Sport can make an important
contribution to improving the position of women. Basically, there are two ways of
stimulating gender equality in all activities of an organization: policy structure and
culture. Activities specifically aimed at improving the positions and participation of
women is necessary as well: a combination of the two strategies is the most effective.
Projects aimed at sport participation by women must be set up with care. There are
several obstacles: women may feel unsafe, they may have other obligations and limited
time, and may be subject to norms in relation to gender and sexuality. It is extremely
important to take these aspects into consideration in the design of programmes and
projects.
This theme too shows the usefulness of cooperation between sports organizations and
development organizations. The gender issues are pre-eminently a theme for
development cooperation. Sport organization do not need to reinvent this particular
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wheel, but can build on procedures and methods that have been tried and tested in
practice. Similarly, development organization do not need to break their heads over the
questions on how to train female sport leaders or how sport activities can be set up so as
to be attractive to women. Sports associations already have this particular expertise. It is
recommended that the experiences of predecessors are used as well as the knowledge and
expertise of specialists in setting up and implementing sports and development projects.
Men and women must have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities. Gender
empowerment must reign.