WOMEN ECONOMY AND SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA: THE GENDER EQUALITY IMPERATIVE

Abstract

This paper is a disquisition on women economy, gender equality and the pursuit  of sustainable industrial development in Nigeria. Women have been progressive in recent decades in terms of their number in participation and contributions to national productivity and growth. However, their optimal capacity to engage in the industrial sector and make greater impact is significantly undermined by the perennial influence of the shackles of gender inequality. This system of inequalities and discrimination, which is imbued in the patriarchal structure of the Nigerian society, has over the years impeded girls and women from harnessing equal rights and opportunities that can empower their constructive efforts toward national industrial development. Given Nigeria’s challenges to effectively pursue sustainable industrial development due mainly to her poor industrial and economic stance, it is an imperative that gender equality is achieved so as to allow women exercise their full potentials, particularly in the industrial environment, where they are largely engaged in the informal and small scale businesses. The paper posits that gender equality with its beneficial features of fairness and equity can provide the conducive and systemic equipoise for women’s economic transformation with its impetus to generate forward industrial growth in Nigeria. It recommends that the citizens and Nigerian government should imbibe all-round equality and eschew discrimination against women; particularly through the efficient implementation/monitoring of the policy of Affirmative Action, gender mainstreaming and other instruments of gender balance, in order to optimize women’s participation and contributions to national industrial growth for effective sustainable industrial development in Nigeria.