摘要：Being one of the contemporary and topical but controversial social problems amidst social inquiry in patriarchal Nigeria, gender has both objective condition and subjective definition in development theories and practices. This paper submits that the concept of 'Gender' within African developmental context aligns with discrimination and derogation. Series of approaches and projects have surfaced in Nigeria with the view to combat the threat of gender along the pathways to socio-economic and political development, yet the phenomenon persists. The paper specifically examines the nature and extent of genderism and fictitious and factual forces weaved around gendered and engendered development programmes in Nigeria. It draws attention to Nigeria's underdevelopmental epidemiology via gender epistemology. Theoretically, the paper argues that the spirit of 'top-down' and 'bottom-up' are inadequate as separate sceptres for achieving the object of gender-sensitive development in Nigeria, indeed, Africa. Against this backdrop, 'nomothetic' method cannot solely drive Nigeria's development out of its morass in the wake of gender issues. Therefore, the paper recommends that a down-to-earth application of gender-neutrality to all stages of the life cycle of development project. Gender-free integrated participatory development approach and 'idiographic' method are suggested as the theoretical and methodical tour de force for Nigeria's sustainability in development. var currentpos,timer; function initialize() { timer=setInterval("scrollwindow()",10);} function sc(){clearInterval(timer); }function scrollwindow() { currentpos=document.body.scrollTop; window.scroll(0,++currentpos); if (currentpos != document.body.scrollTop) sc();} document.onmousedown=scdocument.ondblclick=initialize EMEKA EMMANUEL OKAFOR AND YUSUF ABDULAZEEZ 236 development-driven decision-making and implementation. Of course, patriarchy accounts for the neglect of this watch word. Within the families, kinfolks, clans, lineages, communities and society at large second fiddle characterises the statuses of women, mothers, wives, daughters, ladies and girls in most parts of Nigeria. Therefore, gender-responsive projects continue to crop up day-in-day out amidst Nigeria's sustainable development. Need arises to examine the interface between gender and development. Perfecting this age long scholatistic exercise requires critical conceptualisation of both gender and development. Snyder and Tadesse (1995: 14) conceived 'Gender' as 'a social construct that asserts that the expectations and responsibilities of men and women are not always biologically determined' while, Isamah (2002: 123) sees development as the quantitative and qualitative transformation of societies from one stage to another. According to him '…development process has as its overriding objectives the enhancement of the quality of people's lives and livelihoods'. In this context development refers to gradual evolvement and advancement of all socio-cultural, political, economic and other institutional spheres of society for the benefit of humanity. The phenomenon of sustainable develop- ment has gone beyond the shore of women- centred movement. Realisation of development especially, sustainable development via gender- initiatives also lurked behind objective verification and assessment of all local varieties of social and human stratification, such as age, caste, class, culture, education, ethnicity, race, sexuality, religion among others (Akerkar, 2001). Aside from the application of ideological and repressive state apparatuses (Althusser, 1972) in emasculating women's movements, the women themselves consciously or unconsciously aid the glorification of patriarchy in several ways, especially by commercialising their activities at the detriment of gender-responsive projects in development. Ideological and practical disagreement between men and women, within men and among women along gender-initiative programmes threaten development. The pattern and process in which women have been trading off social movements' ideologies and their inalienable rights in the face of men, fathers, husbands, sons and boys is disheartened. The common sayings that oko nii olori aya 7 (husband is the head of the wife); obirin l'esin 8 (a woman does not have a religion); esin oko nii esin aya 9 (it is the husband religion that is the woman's religion); nkan tii oko ba fen ni kii aya ba fe 10 (it is what the husband wants that a woman should want), in Yorubaland, are clientalistic-oriented and conduit of humiliation, deprivation, exploitation, and in short human underdevelopment. The cultural practices of wives bearing their husbands' names, calling their husbands daddies, kneeling before them as courtesies, serving as their washing, cleaning, cooking machines and domestic servants when reverse can not be the case, are against moves towards the establishment of androgynous society and sustainable development. Neopatrimonial ethos 11 and manifestations are inherent in female-folk amidst network of interactions with their counterparts, yet women's movements, such as National Council of Women's Societies (NCWS) and Better Life Programme (BLP) claimed to be pursuing gender- responsive programmes in Nigeria's human development (Tripp, 2001). Some women's unwillingness to vote for fellow female aspirants during elections substantiates one of the myths behind ideological and practical failure of gender- responsive projects built along participatory politics in Nigeria. A cursory look at the engagement of women in dirtiest routines, especially cleaning of surroundings and washing of toilets being used and littered by male staff and students, including visitors in most educa- tional institutions in the southern Nigeria, speci- fically University system demonstrates the servitude nature of women and their relegation to the background. Most gender-initiative projects, especially women-driven programmes are chasing shadows of social reality at the expense of real social facts and subsequently exalting patriarchy and its attendant consequences. Nevertheless, gender- responsive projects have contributed meaning- fully in human development in Nigeria but its general pattern and process is fluffy. The projects' ideological mechanisms, operational manuals and modes are indistinct, coupled with the fact that their activities, achievements and prospects are fuzzy. The pertinent question that this paper considers is; what should be the role stakeholders in human development with special reference to gender epistemology 12 and gender- sensitive projects.
关键词：Gender; development; integrative participatory development approach
