GENDER PROFILING IN NIGERIA: THE CASE OF THE IGBOs OF SOUTHEASTERN NIGERIA (Published)
Over and over again, the gender issue has remained topical among researchers and policy makers alike. In Nigeria, the clamour for more equitable distributions of positions to favour the women folk, has led to the thirty five percent affirmative programme which seeks to allot thirty five percent of elective positions for women in the National Assembly. The logic had been that women are by nature the weaker sex and therefore need special privileges. Further, it is argued that it is indeed a man’s world and that is why women cannot find a survival space. While these logics may have their merits, the theses of this paper is that the problems go beyond these presentations. In particular for Nigeria and for the Igbos of South Eastern Nigeria, the source of the problem is to be located in the culture, folklore and language of the Igbos which from cradle has rendered the woman subservient to the man. Therefore, any changes that may take place must start with dismantling these basic stereotypes such that relative space can be created for the triumph of the woman in modern Nigeria.