Girl Child Education in Nigeria as Imperative for Women Empowerment: A Feminist Critique

Abstract

Women empowerment is the focal issue in gender matters. Increase awareness of the loss of human resources arising from little attention paid to girl-child education has necessitated the formulation of strategies aimed at reversing the trend in Nigeria and Africa by extension. As one of the desired strategies, this makes a case for more proactive approaches toward girl-child education as a surer means to women in Nigeria and Africa generally. This paper focuses on the need for women empowerment, bringing out grey areas that will enhance girl-child education to avoid women being victims of deprivation. The paper in its thrust discovers cultural challenges that encourage the educational deprivation of the girl-child. The paper adopts feminism as a theory and concludes that education should be gender neutral to avoid the negative effect on girl-child education in Nigeria. It is the position of this paper that women are hardworking if given the right environment. The culture-imposed deprivation of women should be terminated by women as they constitute a part of the teamwork required for the advancement of girl-child education. Therefore, women’s full participation and integration in girl-child education should be maximally promoted for their empowerment. This paper recommends that teacher and teacher’s activities with children must be swiftly cordial to bring about a change in society’s attitude towards women/female/girl-child education.