About SWIN-P

Background

During the last ten years, various groups have worked at promoting gender equality in Nigeria. The National Policy on Women was signed in July 2000, providing an anchor for present and future initiatives to address the barriers that limit the full participation of Nigerian women in various aspects of social life. A growing number of vibrant NGOs, Women’s Groups and Coalitions have also popped up all over the country, indicating that grassroots level change is thriving.

Despite these emerging indicators that are supportive of women empowerment and gender equality and are creating a sustainable environment for social change, Nigerian women still face barriers to their full participation in society. Many of the challenges facing them emerge in the context of gender-based power differences that create disparities in resources, social capital, and options for action.

Gender-based status differences create special difficulties for Nigerian women in three main areas:

1. Vulnerability to poverty through reduced access to, and control over property and financial assets
2. Increased exposure to risk for HIV/AIDS and other STDs
3. Trafficking in women

The social work profession with its long tradition of empowering and working with marginalized people through multi-level interventions and collaborations with community-based organizations is well positioned to contribute significantly to women empowerment and gender equality in Nigeria.
Ideally, social work programs in Nigeria should produce social work practitioners who have the skills and knowledge to develop and implement community-based interventions that address the social problems faced by Nigerian women, their families and communities. Unfortunately, social work programs in Nigerian universities are significantly disadvantaged by an inadequate supply of professionally trained social work faculty and curricula that are largely academic and have minimal practical, culturally relevant and community-based content. As well, current programs and institutions lack necessary resources to support teaching and applied social welfare research.

The social work profession with its long tradition of empowering and working with marginalized people through multi-level interventions and collaborations with community-based organizations is well positioned to contribute significantly to women empowerment and gender equality in Nigeria.

Ideally, social work programs in Nigeria should produce social work practitioners who have the skills and knowledge to develop and implement community-based interventions that address the social problems faced by Nigerian women, their families and communities. Unfortunately, social work programs in Nigerian universities are significantly disadvantaged by an inadequate supply of professionally trained social work faculty and curricula that are largely academic and have minimal practical, culturally relevant and community-based content. As well, current programs and institutions lack necessary resources to support teaching and applied social welfare research.