EDUCATION AS A TOOL FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN BWARI AREA COUNCIL OF ABUJA

EDUCATION AS A TOOL FOR WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN BWARI AREA COUNCIL OF ABUJA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study

Women education leads to increased contributions of women in community development. It is known that community development is a responsibility between men and women in the society. But we are in the world where men seem to dominate the affairs of the world in every country, including Nigeria (Onah, Ugwu, Chikwelu and Okide, 2014). Today there is need for women to be given opportunity to participate fully in national development through education which serve as a tool for women empowerment as it is has been advocated that the Nigerian woman should be exposed to qualitative, productive and activity-based education which will greatly enhance their role in community development that will return Nigeria to emerge as one of the high performing countries of the world (Atureta, 2017).

Women education can be seen as a process of inculcating worthwhile knowledge to women folk to be able to carry out one function or the other which will enable them to help themselves and contribute to the development of their community. Nwizu (2018) declared that “women education is the process of empowering women with the knowledge and skills they require for effective adjustment and functioning in the society”. Therefore, it is an act of ignorance and poverty of knowledge where in some areas of Nigerian they prefer to send their boys to school leaving their girls because of unscientific, traditional and religion beliefs. Experiences have shown that when woman are given qualitative competitive and productive education, they can excel and contribute greatly to community development efforts.

The need for women empowerment arises from the inability of an individual woman or a group of women to actualise their dreams and realise their potential due to artificial barriers created by individuals and organised groups within the same society. It is the manifestation of an incontrovertible inequality, segregation or marginalization (Okeke, 2015). Onu (2018) opined that “women are at the heart of development. They control most of the non-money economy (subsistence agriculture, bearing and raising children, doing domestic labor) and taking important part in the money economy (trading, the formal sector, wage employment)”. He further stressed that every where world, women have two jobs, around the home and outside it. This assertion implies that women have a lot of contribution to make towards the healthy socio-economic development of every country but women are constantly denied this opportunity by the nature of our societal organizations, and the cultural set up that makes it more comfortable for men to maintain the status quo.

Today, awareness has led to the recognition of the important role women can play in national development and this calls for an urgent need to address these critical areas that have hindered full recognition of women’s talents, women’s right, women’s development and empowerment and the ability to contribute meaningfully to community development. It is against this background that this study seeks to examine education as a tool for women empowerment and community development in Bwari area council of Abuja.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

The importance of empowering women for community development cannot be overstressed, this is because women generally are endowed with skills and abilities which if properly managed through formal training and informal training in the form of classroom education, entrepreneurial or skill acquisition programme she is mentally equipped to function better in every vocation she found herself and could improve their quality of life and behavioural disposition in the society.

Empowering women through informal and informal education has become the focus of considerable discussion and attention all over the world as the inequalities between men and women and discrimination against women are an age-old issue all over the world. In the study of Eseyin, Okafor and Uchendu (2014), they examine community development through women empowerment and utilization of literacy and vocational skills services of an educational project in Yemen, Egbai and Otu (2017), carried out an analysis of women education role as community based development for sustainable culture in Calabar; Ovute, Dibia and Obasi (2015) carried out a study on empowering Nigeria women for national development: State of the art, challenges and prospects; Olakulehin and Ojo (2018) investigated distance education as a women empowerment strategy in Africa and analysis.

All these studies discussed the relevance of women education in national or economic development of the nation but without necessarily considering education as a tool for women empowerment and community development in the grass root, this create a gap for which this study seek to fill. It is the light of this that this study seeks to examine education as a tool for women empowerment and community development in Nigeria

1.3     Objective of the Study

The general objective of the study is to examine the role of education as a tool for women employment and community development in Bwari area Council of Abuja.

The specific objectives include:

1. To find out how women can be empowered educationally in Bwari local government area of Abuja.
2. To find out ways women can contribute to the development of Bwari local government area of Abuja.
3. To suggest strategies that can be adopted to enhance women’s participation in community development in Bwari.

1.      Research Questions
2. How can women be empowered educationally in Bwari local government area of Abuja?
3. What ways can women contribute to the development of Bwari local government area of Abuja?
4. What are the strategies adopted to enhance women’s participation in community development in Bwari area council?

1.5     Significance of the Study

The findings of this research will be of great significant or important to the following set of people or organization:

1. The study is expected to benefit the government at both federal, state and local government level by availing them the relevant information on how education serve as a tools for women empowerment and community development; and why their participation in project implementation should be accelerated through various empowerment programmes.
2. The study will be of great use to various Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and community based women empowerment bodies by getting insight information on the better strategic practices in relation to women empowerment and the roles played by empowered women in community development. These bodies shall be able to understand the steps that can be taken to empower the women in marginalized communities and how these women can be drivers of community development.
3. The study will be very useful to future researchers and scholars. It is worth nothing that no similar study has been done in this locale of study and therefore the research findings will add very rich literature to the scholarly world significantly.
4. Finally, this study will benefit the women folks as it will improve on their awareness of the relevant roles played by education as a tools for women empowerment and community development. This will in turn improve the standard of living, enhance rural community resources and add to national development and a successive continuation of human race.

1.6     Definitions of Terms

Education: Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits (Dewey, (2017).

Community: A social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.

Development: The gradual growth of something so that it becomes more advanced, stronger. This is also defined as skill and capacity, greater freedom, creativity, self discipline, responsibility and material well-being.

Empowerment: To give someone the power to do something. To give somebody more control over their own life or the situation they are in.

Women: It is the plural of woman. It is defined as an adult female human being. Women all over the world constitute a gender group; they are a disadvantaged group based on their sex.

Women Network: Women coming and working together in a group to achieve an objective.