Abstract
This study had the objective of assessing the role of gender in cooperative development, analyzing the socio-economic profile of the cooperators on the basis of gender, assessing gender contributions to cooperative development in terms of membership, organizational and leadership structures, examining technical efficiency and factors hindering the implementation of gender sensitive program and activities in Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State. A field survey was conducted to collect data from one hundred and fifty (150) respondents. The study employed descriptive statistics, stochastic cobb Douglas frontier function as well as ranking method in the analysis of data collected. The result of the study indicates that female cooperators, who are within the active age, are reasonably literate and dominate the leadership role in cooperatives. The result also shows that farm size and fertilizer use lead to increase in technical or productive efficiency among cooperators. The ma
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION:
1.1BACKGROUND 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 biologically determined
differences.Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary 6th edition sees gender as the fact of being
male or female; gender specific or 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.Russo et al (2004) see gender 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 as requires that women are
considered in relation to men in a socio –cultural setting and not as an isolated
group.Gender roles focuses 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 asked, if
Africa can claim the 21st century?, a study made the argument that Africa has
enormous unexploited potentials. It has hidden growth reserves in its people,
including the potential of its women, who now provide more than half the
Region’s labour but lack equal access to education and factors of production. The
study concludes 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 one
in 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
community roles. Women are continuously taking up roles that were traditionally
considered men’s; for example in 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 in view of the well
being of their families; that is ,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 entails that most of the
economic activities are in the hands of women; also, women’s activities are often
constrained to household and community management activities like child care,
food preparation, subsistent agriculture e.t.c. 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, or
can emerge 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)says that ‘gender roles’ vary among cultures and overtime,
and crosscut by a multitude of identities like ethnicity and class, the gender
division of labor 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 the economic
development. The goals of the youth development services is to develop the
youth to their fullest which is being creative ,innovative, smart creating hope,
opportunity results and dynamic. This is because from Regulation
C/Reg14/13/2003 there is a bill passed that there should be an establishment unit
for gender child and youth socialization, this is because when we are talking of
children and youth, we need to consider their different languages, culture and
socialization in the economy. Moreso, 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) second principle ,which says “principle of democratic
member controlâ€; this 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. In primary cooperatives, members have equal
voting rights (one member, one vote) and cooperatives at other levels are also
organized in a democratic manner.In Anambra state of Nigeria, agriculture is the major occupation of the people
and economic activities center largely on food production, processing, marketing
and distributive trade. Agricultural producer cooperatives are the main type of
societies found in the state; they are registered as farmers multipurpose
cooperative societies; women who are more in population are the most active in
some primary societies than the men.
Ijere (1991)opined that in agriculture ,women participate in food production,
processing, and distribution ;and in the societies, women are cleaners of rural
roads, the regular visitors to the markets, the impartial arbitrators in family or
clan dispute or disagreements, the preservers of age long customs of yam
festivals, child birth, marriage feast and water collection.Wiley (1999) Opined that producers cooperatives can experience on increase in
technical efficiency following a tightening of financial constraints, therefore
increasing financial pressure can affect positively the cooperative efficiency.Idiong (2007). The productivity of farmers can be raised either by adoption of
improved production technologies or improvement in efficiency or both.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:
Gender imbalance in employment, in job status, in poverty status, and in earnings
over time is one the major problems affecting the development 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 task of country poverty
reduction strategies(PRS),these strategies could be successful 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 goal in September (2000).So, gender inequality directly or
indirectly limits economic growth in Anambra state and imposes substantial
development costs. world bank(2000).Another problem that need 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).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 mean that both men, women, and youths should participate
equally in cooperatives and that both men’s and women’s 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 been neglected.
Meaning 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).1.3 STATEMENT OF RESEARCH QUESTION
* What are the socio economic profiles of the cooperator on the bi of gender?
* What are the contribution of gender to the cooperative development in term of
membership, organization and leadership structure?
* What is the technical efficiency of the cooperator ho I the technical efficiency
of the cooperator been compared long gender line.
What are the factors hindering the implication of gender sensitive programme
and activities in the societies.1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:
The broad objective of this study is to assess the roles played by gender in
cooperative development in Anambra state of Nigeria. The specific objectives
include to:
– Analyze the socio-economic profile of the cooperators on the basis of
gender.
– Assess gender contributions to cooperative development in terms of
membership, organizational and leadership structures.
– Examine the technical efficiency of cooperators.
– Compare the technical efficiency of the cooperators along gender
lines.
– Examine factors hindering the implementation of gender sensitive
programmes and activities in the societies.
– Make recommendations based on the findings.1.5 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESES
H1 Cooperators activities are male dominated.
H2 technical efficiency is positively related to education, farming
experience, farm size, extension visit, credit access, household size,
gender; and negatively related to age.
H3 male cooperators are more efficient than the female cooperators.1.6 JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
The justification of this study can be perceived that both men and omen ply
substantial economic role, notably in agriculture and in the inform lector, but they
are not evenly distributed cross the sector of the economy UNDP (1995). The
government of Nigeria will benefit from the findings of this research because it
shows and identifies the problems of unequal relations of power between men
and women on the socio-economic level and make suggestions for improvement.It will provide adequate and useful information to the members of cooperatives
and to the general public on the concept of gender.
It will be useful to other researchers and readers.
1.7 LIMITATION AND SCOPE OF THE STUDY
Due to time factor which is caused by the shortness of period in which this
research conducted, financial constraint which hinder the researcher
movement to all the cooperative societies in Awka north to get first hand
information has nearly frustrated the researcher effort.This research work is limited to Awka North L.G. A in the assessment of the role
of gender in cooperative development in Anambra state, Nigeria has up to 200
viable and unviable cooperative of which 150 were selected the sample size.