POVERTY

THE BANE OF WOMEN DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA

Abstract

In spite of the fact that Nigeria is richly endowed with material and human
resources, the poverty rate has remained intolerably high. This has negatively affected women in improving their conditions of living and contributing to national development in Nigeria. As a result, women are confronted with low political participation, unequal resource allocation, lack of income and access to loan, cultural and religious discriminatory practices, and lack of employment and education. The paper is aimed at addressing the major factors that are responsible for high level of poverty among Nigerian women. The paper made use of secondary sources of data, and relied on sustainable development theory as its theoretical framework of analysis. The findings showed that the major factors accounting for high level of poverty among women are low political participation, lack of access to loan and income, socio-cultural inequality, poor education and employment. The findings showed that the inability of government to address the problem of poverty in Nigeria through a result oriented poverty alleviation programme increased the poverty level of women to their underdevelopment. The paper finally recommended a poverty alleviation blue print that will ensure fair political representation, access to income and loan, increase of job opportunities, access to education and elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.