How subjugation of women retards financial freedom in homes

Regrettably, men initiated and have continually sustained the subjugation, an age-long development that has left many homes struggling financially as men try to shoulder family burdens alone.“In male-dominated societies, women’s subordination and men’s dominance are so pronounced that their subcultures are literally separated by a world of difference. One such society is Nigeria,” said a […]

Regrettably, men initiated and have continually sustained the subjugation, an age-long development that has left many homes struggling financially as men try to shoulder family burdens alone.
“In male-dominated societies, women’s subordination and men’s dominance are so pronounced that their subcultures are literally separated by a world of difference. One such society is Nigeria,” said a university scholar, Dr. Chinyere Stella Okunna.
A critical look at the state of the woman in some homes in Nigeria will appallingly reveal three factors militating against her freedom and in turn the financial freedom of homes- marginalisation, trivialisation and stereotyping.  These three enemies of the Nigerian woman are encouraged, fuelled and reinforced by our cultures and male-induced societal norms that require the woman to perpetually remain lying on the ground while the man keeps standing.
Why do some men forbid their wives from engaging in endeavours that can liberate the family financially? The answer is simple: men have the tendency to dominate women and make them intolerably subservient and a journey down the lane of history will prove this point.
Historically, man has always dominated the woman. This obnoxious subjugation has always been justified by the man on the grounds that nature designed the status quo and that it is not subject to alteration but one man who seriously disagrees with this position is Dr. Abubakar Mu’azu, a senior lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication of the University of Maiduguri.
“Man has always told us ‘his story’ in the name of ‘history.’ It is time for the woman to tell us ‘her story’ as the account of the past told from the woman’s perspective. The notion that women are under men is part of man’s ‘his story’ which the woman should challenge with ‘her story’,” said Mu’azu.
Sadly, her story is pathetic. The Nigerian woman everyday cries of marginalisation. From all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria, the subordinated voice of the woman can still be heard resonating across the globe, crying for help.
Economically, the woman struggles to survive in virtual purdah, selling petty items in some parts of the country. This is even more cemented by objectionable stance of some ill-informed men who believe that the place of the woman is in the kitchen, thereby, business and official works are reserved for men and errant women.
In the South-eastern part of Nigeria where women enjoy some degree of freedom in terms of trading and office work, obnoxious cultural practices have continued to ensure their subjugation, one of which is the inheritance practice. The woman is denied every right of inheritance in her father’s house as tradition holds that the share of the woman is in her husband’s house.
Politically, the woman is marginalised. Women hardly get the permission to venture into politics as men believe that home keeping should be their priority and not how the society is governed. To crown it all, the man (and even the woman, sometimes) believes that the woman does not have the requisite economic power to indulge in dirty political deals characterised by money shows, violence, assassinations and other vices.
Furthermore,  Nollywood, which is apparently the mirror of the Nigerian society, has also teamed up with the man to marginalise the woman and trivialise her place in the society.
A study conducted in 2010 by Adesina Lukuman Azeez on the portrayals of women in Nigerian home video films showed that “Nigerian films, as a form of cultural industry, are devoted to controlling and dominating women, and they do this in such a way as to make the control and domination seem natural and given, but with the power to propel women to internalise their objectives.”
The findings of the study further showed that “Nigerian films are ideological apparatuses or devices that perpetuate the images, myths, ideas, concepts or discourses that aim at fixing women in negative/lower positions in their relationship with men and their actual life conditions.”
Meanwhile, this is also reflected in the way men view women in the Nigerian society and also collaborated with roles of subjugation being played by actresses in Kannywood.
Interestingly, culpability is also that of the mass media in the domination and subjugation of women in Nigeria. Both in the profession and representation in the society, the mass media paint the woman as an entity perpetually positioned below the man.
Most editorial decisions are made by men in the media. The man is glorified as the hero while the woman is seen as the subordinate. Most cover stories are dominated by the man, leaving the fashion and kitchen pages for the woman.
In broadcast shows, the woman appears on air as an object of attraction, while the man makes the real money through editorial decisions behind the camera. This is unacceptable!
In everything in Nigeria, women are stereotyped, marginalised and trivialised in such a way that they earn less than men. The woman is stereotypically called the “weaker sex,” not minding that she does most of the domestics at home. She does the labourious child birth after nine months of pregnancy. She suckles the child and breeds it.
The same woman contributes financially to the running of the family with her meagre income. In some parts of the country, the woman in virtual purdah is known for engaging in economic activities within her house in spite of being in seclusion. The woman in seclusion could even make more money at home than her husband that has freedom of movement.
A researcher, Yakubu Zakari stated that despite the subjugation of women in Nigeria, most of them are the backbones of the economic strength of their families.
“Most of these women contribute enormously to the economic strength of their families from indoor petty businesses,” Zakari stated.
With the population of women in Nigeria put at 82,098,001 by the National Population Commission (NPC), there has to be a change in attitude of men and government policy regarding women to address this societal problem and all stakeholders have a stake on it. This is the time for action to liberate these women who form a strong pillar of the home and the society at large.
Ali writes from the Department of Mass Communication, University of Maiduguri.