ASSESSMENT OF THE ROLE OF GENDER IN COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Background Of The Study: Gender    refers    to    the    socially    constructed    roles, behaviours,  activities,  and  attributes  that  a  given society considers   appropriate   for   men   and   women.   Gender concept  simply  refers  to  the  socially-determined  and culturally specific differences between women and men  as opposed to the biological determined differences. Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary 6th edition sees gender  as  the  fact  of  being  male  or  female;  gender specific issue is connected with women only or with men only. Reeves   and   Baden   (2000)   sees   gender   as   the “socially  determined  ideas  and  practices  of  what  it  is to be   female   or   male;   these   ideas   and   practices   are sanctioned and reinforced by a host of cultural, political and  economic  institutions  including  household,  legal  and governance structure, markets and religion. Furthermore, gender  could  also  be  seen  as  socio-economic  variables which    aid    the    analysis    of    roles,    responsibilities, constraints  and  opportunities  of  both  men  and  women.Gender  which  is  commonly  used  interchangeably  with ‘sex’ within the academic fields of cultural studies, gender studies and the social sciences in general; often refers to purely   social   rather   than   biological   differences,   this means    that    ‘gender    roles’    are    formed    through socialization.    Meanwhile,  the  concept  gender  is   an important  analytical  tool  in  the  planning  management, monitoring  and  evaluation  of  development  programs  or cooperative   projects   which   requires   that   women   are considered  in  relation  to  men  in  a  socio-cultural  setting and not as an isolated group. Gender  roles  focus  on  household  and  community roles  because  gender  roles  are  different  in  any  society. This  is  because  in  each  society  there  are  functions  of what  women and men of that society are expected to do in their adult life.  Since gender roles are formed through socialization,  children  are  socialized  to  internalize  these roles;  girls  and  boys  are  prepared  for  their  different  but specific roles.  Gender roles can be defined as the roles that  are  played  by  both  women  and  men  which  are  not determined   by   biological   factors   but   by   the   socio-economic and cultural environment or situation.  Men and women  are  also  characterized  by  different  roles  which mean that men take the lead in productive activities, and women in reproductive activities, where the latter include the  reproduction  of  the  family  and  even  of  society  itself.  Obviously,  women  and  men’s  roles  and  responsibilities are separate but they complement one another. UNDP (1995) opined that gender is an economic issue as well as a social issue, in fact more so in Africa than in any  other  Region  and  that  both  men  and  women  play substantial  economic  roles,  notably  in  Agriculture  and in the  informal  sector,  but  they  are  not  evenly  distributed across the sectors of the economy. Word  Bank  (2000)  on  economic  roles  of  men  and women  in  Africa  made  the  argument  that  Africa  has enormous   unexploited   potentials   with   hidden   growth reserves   in  its   people,  including  the   potential   of its women,  who  now  provide  more  that  half  the  Region’s labour  but lack  equal  access  to  education  and factors  of production.  It  concluded  that  gender  equality  can  be  a potent  force  for  accelerated  poverty  reduction  in  Africa and Nigeria in particular. Although   ‘gender’   and   ‘women’   are   often   used interchangeably,  they  are  not the  same.    However, most gender    analyses    usually    find    that    women    are disproportionately disadvantaged, that is why the majority of  gendered  interventions  target  women.    As  a  result  of this,  the  discussions  on  gender  roles  at  household  and community   level   revealed   that   women   do   all   the reproductive work as well as most of the productive work.  Women have a bigger share of communities roles.

Women   are   continuously   taking   up   roles   that   were traditionally considered the role of the men, (building). Finally,  both men  and  women  agreed  that  some men are  not  taking  sufficient  responsibility  in  the  homes  and that this is one of the reasons  why  women take up  such responsibilities for the well being of their families. In other words, if a man does not care about building or repairing the  family  house,  the  woman  has  to  do  so  because  she cannot  continue  living  under  a  leaking  house  which  is unsafe  for  the  family.    This  implies  that  most  of  the economic activities are in the hands of women. However,women’s  activities  are  often  constrained  by  household and  community  management  activities  like  child  care, food  preparation,  subsistence  agriculture,  etc.    This is why  Moser  (1993)  refers  to  women  as  assuming  a  triple role,   that   is,   they   are   responsible   for   reproductive,productive  and  community  management  activities,  and receive little recognition for their unpaid work.  Therefore, women,  the  poor,  religious  or  ethnic minorities may face significant  constraints  in  their  attempt  to  participate  in collective  action.    Women’s  exclusion  from  participation may  be  a  direct  result  of  gender  norms,  and  from  other factors that are determined by such norms.  In a study of mixed-sex    agricultural    cooperatives    in    Nicaragua, Mayoux     found     women’s     participation     limited     to involvement  as  day  labourers;  when  women  attempt  to make  their  voices  heard  or  gain  management  positions,they  were  perceived  by  others  (men  and  women)  as attempting to step out of their appropriate social role. Agarwal  et  al.  (2001)  stated  that  gender  roles  vary among   cultures   and   overtime,   and   crosscut   by   a multitude of identities like ethnicity and class, the gender division of labour usually find men and women relegated to the public and private spheres. Gender roles at household and community level have contributed  immensely  towards  genuine  equality  of  men and  women,  boys  and  girls,  in  economic  development.  The goal of the youth development services is to develop the youth to their fullest to be creative, innovative, smart, hopeful,  result  oriented  and  dynamic.  This  is  because when  we  are  talking  of  children  and  youth,  we  need  to consider     their     different     languages,     culture     and socialization  in  the  economy.    More  so,  irrespective  of gender,  all  children  and  young  people  are  regarded  as youth,  and  the  youth  constitute  the  largest  segment  in community and agricultural development. According  to  ICA  (1995)  the  “principle  of  democratic member control” entails that cooperatives are democratic organizations  controlled  by  their  members  who  actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions.  Men  and  women  serving  as  elected  representatives  are accountable to the membership.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Gender  imbalance  in  employment,  in  job  status, in poverty  status,  and  in  earnings  over  time  constitute   the major problems affecting the development of cooperative industries (Nicita and Razzaz, 2002). Gender inequality in access  to  and  control  of  a  wide  range  of  economic, human, and social capital assets and resources remains pervasive  in  Nigeria,  and  is  a  core  dimension  of  poverty in   this   region.   Understanding   the   nature   of   these disparities, and acting forcefully to remove them, is one of the  key  tasks  of  country  poverty  reduction  strategies (PRS).  These  strategies  could  be  successful  enhancing the by technical efficiency of the cooperatives in reducing poverty    and    supporting    the    achievement    of    the Millennium  Development Goals  (MDGs)  which  targets  to promote gender equality. This was adopted by the United Nations  Millennium  Development  Goals  in  September (2000).   Gender   inequality   directly   or   indirectly   limits economic   growth   in   Anambra   State   and   imposes substantial   development   costs.   (World   Bank,   2000). Another  problem  that  needs  to  be  addressed  is  the unequal relations of power between men and  women on the  socio-economic  level.  This  results  in  the  unequal distribution  of  the  benefits  of  development  and  hinders women  participation  in  the  development  process  (ICA-ILO Gender Package, 2001). Gender      disparity      in      leadership,      education, management   and   employment   seems   to   lower   the economic  growth  of  our  societies.  Although  cooperative organizations  and  governments  have  policies  of  equity and  equal  opportunity,  cooperative  societies  will  ensure that  women  are  afforded  equal  treatment  in  regard  to employment  opportunities,  promotion,  and  wages  etc. Democratic participation in cooperatives means that men, women    and    youths    should    participate    equally    in cooperatives  and  that  both  men’s,  women’s  and  youths’ needs and concerns must be addressed equally. Technical  inefficiency  (productive  inefficiency)  is  due to inadequate working capital for the cooperators, lack of education,    poor    management,    and    low    level    of participation     among     members     mainly     the     male cooperators,  lack  of  extension  education  and  service, wrong  timing  of  meetings,  conflicting  interest,  gender inequality,    and    long    distance    to   meeting   venues. Obviously, women all over the world especially in Nigeria form  a  significant  percentage  of  the  world  today  and despite   their   contribution   to   the   national   economy, cooperatives   and   rural   development,   they   are   often neglected.  This  means  that  women  occupy  a  central position  in  economic  production  especially  in  agriculture and  in  the  informal  sector  but  they  are  not  equally distributed  across  the  productive  sectors;  that  is  women are  being  marginalized  in  mainstream  activities  (Elson and Evers, 1997).