gender differential paper IJCRB

ijcrb.webs.com
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS
JUNE 2011
VOL 3, NO 2
THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN
IGABI LOCAL GOVERNMENT, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA
ISA UMAR FARUQ
DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY BAYERO UNIVERSITY, KANO NIGERIA
KWAME LANTEH
UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LAGON, GHANA
ARC MICHEAL A. AJONGOLO
MARVELAC LTD. KADUNA
OLOWOLAYEMO E. JULIET,
NIGERIAN DEFENCE ACEDEMY
OLOWO T. JOHN,
FEDERAL COLLEGE OF FORESTRY MECHANIZATION, AFAKA, KADUNA, NIGERIA
OJO OLALEYE SAMUEL
Abstract
This research paper focuses on role of women in environmental protection in Igabi local
government, Kaduna State, Nigeria. This study specially focuses on womens role in Environmental
Protection. At the end Mann Withney (U) result revealed that the roles women played are completely
different to the roles played by men in environmental protection.
Keywords: Role ; Women ; Environmental Protection ; Kaduna State
1. BACKGROUND OF STUDY
There is a growing debate about gender and the environment which highlights women's roles in the
use and management of natural resources (Braidotti et. al., 1994). This debate has stimulated much
developmental analysis and created greater awareness of the general activities of women. But there
are dangers in conceiving of women's roles in relation to the environment in a partial, narrow, or
static way. Seeing women as isolated environmental factor, separate from men, with an innate
understanding of Nature can be very misleading. Current development policy initiatives are often
based on this essentialist assumption that women's relationship with the environment is special and,
therefore, women are particularly interested in and capable of protection of the environment. Such a
view enables policy makers to argue that projects aimed at sustaining the environment will also
benefit women, and vice versa. This synergistic approach can be seen as creating both a trap and an
opportunity. In most countries modernization has been accompanied by a decline in women's
entitlements to land and common property resources. Women are usually very dependent on
common property resources for water, firewood, compost for farmland and wild herbs, mushrooms,
fruits and nuts, as it is usually their responsibility to ensure that the family is supplied with these
goods (Swope, 1995). When these commonly held resources become scarce and property rights are
COPY RIGHT © 2011 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 57