Women and Socio-Economic Growth in Nigeria: A Development Strategy

The contribution of women to the socio-economic growth of developing nations has received little attention in the existing literature in terms of their roles in the process, and Nigeria is not an exception. This paper is an attempt to fill this gap, bearing in mind, the fact that the agricultural sector employs 60-70% in most of African countries, (the dominant activity in rural Nigeria where women’s contribution is higher), and the overall contributions of women to the growth of the Nigerian economy. The study adopted participatory development as its theoretical framework. It also adopted the survey research design with the use of random sampling technique to select respondents. Primary and secondary data were used in the study. combined with in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and supplemented with observations. Chi-square was used to analyze the data. The results indicated that 1% increase in women’s contribution raised the level of GDP by 58.4%; that income generating activities of women to include agricultural produce, marketing of farm produce, crafts making and food processing; and that despite all the efforts women put in development, their capacities are not optimally utilized due to socio-cultural and political hindrances such as access to land, loans, education. Other hindrances are gender issues which lead to marginalization and non-inclusion of women in the nation’s decision-making positions. The paper therefore recommended women empowerments, policy initiatives to upgrade their roles which is one of the important objectives of the global development strategy, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), where Sub-Saharan Africa plays a ‘latecomer role’ in its realization. It was also recommended that government and non-governmental agencies should integrate more women into top policy making positions for their optimum capacities to be utilized.