Gender Influence on Health Care Utilization among Antenatal Care Women in Nigeria.

Gender is a very serious factor affecting maternal health particularly in a patriarchal setting like Nigeria. Gender is a force that exacerbated poor utilization of maternal health services. The dynamics of gender roles especially in a patriarchal society affects maternal roles adversely through male domination, female dependency, low status of women and socio-economic status, cultural beliefs and practices with unpleasant implications for poor maternal health utilization which culminate in high maternal mortality and morbidity. Efforts of international and national summits on Safe Motherhood such as the International Safe Motherhood Initiative, 1987 in Kenya, International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), 1994, Beijing- Fourth world Conference on Women, 1995, United Nations MDGs 2000, and its local equivalent in Nigeria such as National Safe Motherhood Conference, Abuja 1990, Integrated Maternal Newborn and Child Health Strategy 2007 among others have succeeded poorly in advancing the cause of poor health status of women during the past decades. Maternal mortality statistics remain high in Nigeria. Men decide where and when their households go for health care services, antenatal care (ANC) and delivery services. In fact maternal mortality is a very sensitive indicator of inequality and a resultant offshoot of gender role which is embedded in several patriarchal cultural practices. While the patriarchal system confers on men a superior position in the family decision-making process, the cultural setting gives recognition to men as the traditional head of the household. The gender inequality index of Nigeria is very low with Nigeria ranking 153 out of 186 countries (UNDPHDR, 2013). Nigeria has one of the highest rates of maternal mortality in the world, ranked second globally with 37,000 cases of maternal deaths annually. While India occupied the first place with 136,000 maternal deaths and Pakistan was in the third place with 26,000 deaths. Ironically, Nigeria with only 2% of the world’s population accounts for 10% of global maternal deaths. Each day 144 Nigerian women die in childbirth, which is equivalent to one death every 10 minutes. Decision to seek treatment may be influenced by a woman’s socio- economic status and cultural dogmas in the household. In Nigeria, 62% of births take place at home (NPC 2009). Access to quality health care during pregnancy and delivery are vital forces in influencing maternal morbidity and mortality. Regrettably, it’s the male folks that do not bear the burden of pregnancy and child birth that virtually decides the fate of their spouses including use of treatment issues

Gender Discrimination and National Politics: The Nigerian Case

Women participation in Nigerian politics is crucial to the development of Nigeria and since women constitute a sizeable proportion of the population, neglecting them may mean losing their valuable contribution. Traditional socio-economic and political and cultural structures aid discrimination against women leading to loss of contributions of women to societal development. Raising the status of women through gender empowerment has is considered in certain quarters as vital in the quest towards improvement in living standards and wellbeing of the masses in economies transiting to stability. Despite global efforts to improve the poor conditions of women through numerous conventions and conferences such as CEDAW, MDGs among others, gender discrimination has not ceased. The paper aims at throwing light on gender discrimination, obstacles to gender equality and suggests strategies for promoting effective gender equality and empowerment of women. Using secondary data, from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, the paper found that gender discrimination exists in all variable indicators considered. Current status of Nigerian women in relation to men in the areas of education, income, labor force and share of seats in parliament or level of political participation were considered. Some of the main factors militating against women’s effective participation in politics are illiteracy, poverty, money politics, instrument of intimidation, harmful traditional practices and discriminatory cultural stereotypes, violence against women, barriers by electoral process, and religious barriers. It is suggested that more efforts are required by civil society groups and government agencies for greater awareness on gender issues and rekindling efforts of all stakeholders in the quest to formulating policies and programs towards reduction of gender inequality

Gender Discrimination and National Politics: The Nigerian Case

Women participation in Nigerian politics is crucial to the development of Nigeria and since women constitute a sizeable proportion of the population, neglecting them may mean losing their valuable contribution. Traditional socio-economic and political and cultural structures aid discrimination against women leading to loss of contributions of women to societal development. Raising the status of women through gender empowerment has is considered in certain quarters as vital in the quest towards improvement in living standards and wellbeing of the masses in economies transiting to stability. Despite global efforts to improve the poor conditions of women through numerous conventions and conferences such as CEDAW, MDGs among others, gender discrimination has not ceased. The paper aims at throwing light on gender discrimination, obstacles to gender equality and suggests strategies for promoting effective gender equality and empowerment of women. Using secondary data, from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, the paper found that gender discrimination exists in all variable indicators considered. Current status of Nigerian women in relation to men in the areas of education, income, labor force and share of seats in parliament or level of political participation were considered. Some of the main factors militating against women’s effective participation in politics are illiteracy, poverty, money politics, instrument of intimidation, harmful traditional practices and discriminatory cultural stereotypes, violence against women, barriers by electoral process, and religious barriers. It is suggested that more efforts are required by civil society groups and government agencies for greater awareness on gender issues and rekindling efforts of all stakeholders in the quest to formulating policies and programs towards reduction of gender inequality

Factors of Gender Inequality and Development among Selected Low Human Development Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

Gender inequality and poor women empowerment retard improvement in living standards of women and act as a clog in their contributions to governance and economic development. Gender inequality lower quality of life and culminates in limited productivity, hinder economic efficiency and growth. For over three decades, gender issues have been at the front burner of international summits. In spite of much progress in recent times, gender inequalities remain pervasive in many dimensions of life in various regions around the world particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Treatment of women is yet to be fairer and related policies can be more effective to improve the status of women. No-doubt studies have been carried out on gender inequality, but less emphasis has been raveled with respect to hindrances and implications of gender inequality. Hence, understanding the nature of gender inequality will not only promote sound awareness among African countries, but also ignite government efforts as well as NGOs toward effective interventions for reduction of gender inequality especially in the economic and political realms where women are made worse off by the socio-cultural milieu. The methodological approach to this paper was based on reviews of published multiple documents to draw up statistical profile of the situation of women in selected countries of low human Development index in SSA to show the existence of gender inequality. The paper found among all the 12 low human development countries and SSA region examined that gender indicators such as human development index, expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling, estimated gross national per capita, share of seats in parliament, population with at least secondary education and labor-force participation rate are all in favor of men. The paper concludes with recommendations to narrow the gender gaps

Social sustainability business practices and organisational performance in Nigerian banks

is study examines employee involvement in organisational affairs as an important facet of social sustainability in the Nigerian banking sector, because providing good customer service requires committed employees rather than coerced labour. Data extracted through quantitative content analysis fromthe financial reports of fifteen commercial banks were analysed using descriptive statistics, Z test, One-way ANOVA, correlation and regression analysis techniques. e study found that employee involvement correlates positively and significantly with organisational performance; and banks differ in performance on the account of the level of employee involvement; firms with deeper level of employee involvement performed better than others with shallow level of employee involvement, thus stressing the relevance of employee involvement as an aspect of social sustainability business practices. Organisations are enjoined to involve their employeesmore to achieve better results; and embrace the modern philosophy of regarding employees as strategic resources that can be used to bolster core competence

To Whom Much Is Given: Prioritising Corporate Social Responsibility Among Nigerian Banks (2010-2015)

This study used the corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending of the First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) and Guarantee Trust Bank (GTBank) from 2010-2015 to determine the priority of each bank in giving back to the society. The nature of banking has greatly evolved in the 21st century. Not only has the advent of technology made new products and services available, fierce competition among similar brands has also offered customers a wide variety of choices. This brings to the fore the importance of relationship building through Public relations and CSR. The study, therefore, examined the corporate social responsibility of FBN and GTBank over a period of six years. This paper adopted the methodological approach of reviewing the banks’ published annual reports from 2010 to 2015. Statistical analysis was drawn up on the company’s practice of corporate social responsibility which included spending on education and community development among others. The findings revealed that the First Bank of Nigeria spent more on CSR within the period studied while Guarantee Trust Bank had a higher percentage of yearly increase in spending. It was, nevertheless, discovered that both banks recorded significant cut in their spending from 2014.Consequently, it was recommended that banks should embrace CSR as a salient part of their existence and not as an activity to adopt when convenient

EDUCATIONAL AWARENESS OF FACTORS REDUCING MATERNAL MORTALITY IN RURAL COMMUNITIES IN OGUN STATE NIGERIA

The study aimed at educational awareness of non–medical factors associated with maternal mortality reduction and to proffer policy guidelines for informed policy intervention. We analyzed secondary data from the 2010 Covenant University project on non-medical determinants of maternal mortality in Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area, Ogun State. The study employed an informant approach questionnaire design, and information on maternal mortality was recorded from 360 eligible respondents which constituted the sample size and descriptive statistics and regression analysis were further applied. The study shows among others that majority of the respondents married between the ages of 25 and 44 with a proportion of 64.2 percent. As for the deceased spouse, an overwhelming proportion of the deceased spouses got married below 30 years (64.2%). Employment status of respondents showed that those not working registered 22.5 percent and their deceased counter parts in the same working status accounts for higher proportion (39.9). The highest level of education attained by majority of the respondents interviewed was secondary education (48.1%), followed by primary education (28.6%). For the education of their deceased spouses, it was observed that 50% of them had only primary education followed by those who attained secondary school (26.7%) and those who never went to school (19.7%). The educational attainment of the deceased was very poor when compared to their husbands in all categories. Distance is a very important factor in the utilization of health facility. Slightly above three-fourths of respondents (75.2%) have to travel 6 km and beyond to access or avail themselves this facility. Treatment costs was mainly born by the respondents (49.7%) and spouse’s relatives and friends (36.7%) Regression analysis results showed that ‘person who pays the treatment costs’ (p=0.003) and ‘place of consultation’ (p=0.000) were non-medical significant factors influencing maternal mortality reduction. The study recommends empowering and improving the status of women through better education and paid out of home employment in order to reduce maternal mortality and prompt better Safe Motherhood Initiative, Also providing educational awareness of non–medical factors associated with maternal mortality to men is likely to herald positive decision and better treatment to women from men especially during the journey of pregnancy and child birth

Economic and demographic effects of monetary policy instruments on growth

Using vector error correction model (VECM), the paper answers two questions: is there a longrun relationship between monetary policy instruments and economic growth? What is the nature of the relationship and what other factors influence it? The results of Johansen and Juselius multivariate co-integration procedure suggest a long run equilibrium relationship between monetary policy rates, money supply; cash reserve ratio, financial development and economic growth. Increased monetary policy rate (MPR) in one period contracts economic growth ceteris paribus. It is found, however, that due to demographic factors and existence of informal sector, monetary policy instruments are less effective. It is recommended that concerted effort be made towards effective allocation of credits to economic activities linked directly to the productive base of the economy for sustainable economic growth. In addition, concessionary tax instruments and incentives - like holidays and credits - for emerging SMEs are recommended. Given additional demographic data, it will be interesting to show how the results relate to the size of the informal sector and the population. This opens up the discourse and justifies the need for further empirical analysis of this issue

Poverty drivers and Nigeria’s development: Implications for policy intervention

Several policies and programmes have been put in place to address the issue of poverty both in developing and developed countries of which Nigeria is not exempted. This study using data from World Development Indicators (WDI) for the period of 1992–2016 examined the key principles influencing poverty rate in Nigeria and their implications for policy interventions. The result of the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model using several equations showed that unemployment increases poverty by approximately 1.4, 1.5 and 3.3 percent in the short run while inflation reduces poverty by approximately 0.08 percent in the short run. This implies that unemployment causes poverty while inflation, public resources devoted to austerity programmes and economic growth reduces poverty in the short run. The study recommends that government should put in place adequate measures and conducive environment to encourage more business operations in the country