Addressing Patriarchy in Nigeria and the Quest for Women Empowerment.

Abstract

Considering women’s meager percentage in political, economic and social arena in Nigeria, there is no doubt; there are more questions than answers on the issues concerning ordeals of women. The implementation of series of international (especially Beijing declaration of 1995 in which Nigeria is a signatory) and local women conventions is still a mirage and regurgitating issue among activists, social analyst and commentators. This paper tries to look at challenges faced by women in Nigeria and how gender roles are created, implemented and made to be seen as natural by culture and religious misinterpreters (the patriarchs). The objectives of the study are to assess how gender role affect women; how scriptures are misinterpreted in order to reiterate male domination in the society and to suggest some panacea toward women empowerment in Nigeria. This paper used qualitative method of data analysis and data were collected from secondary sources. This study recommend that women ordeals need intensive attention in Nigeria. The main finding of this paper reveals that patriarchy is in really trending which serve as an impediment towards women empowerment.