CROWDING OUT WOMEN: THE EFFECT OF POVERTY ON MEN IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Gender discrimination had made the female gender in Nigeria to even accept their position as inferior, weak, and subservient to the male gender. Cultural issues had made people to disaggregate job types into females’ and males’. The males’ types of job are mostly formal and lucrative, while that of the females are mostly informal and less lucrative. A downturn in the Nigerian economy, especially occasioned by the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP) in 1986 had caused serious job loss and unemployment in the male dominated sector. The scenario bred serious poverty among the male gender. This situation forced the male gender to migrate to earlier sectors seen as women’s. The energy and dexterity brought by these men to ‘women’s’ work environment, caused enormous loss of jobs by women. The migrant men started crowding-out women from their traditional work sanctuary, because of their strength and dexterity. This created serious poverty issues among women in the economy. Since women are the bastion of the family in Nigeria, their poverty becomes the family poverty. This paper goes on to show the consequence of this poverty on women and concludes by suggesting ways out.