Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies: Home

Abstract:
The paper argues that rather than settling down to confront the challenge of the inequality of the sexes in Africa (and perhaps also in the so-called third world countries), African women elite class has been engaged in paying lip services to this politically and socially serious issue. Part of what the paper discovers as the bane of Africa women political emancipation is that these women themselves engage in self-deception through brainwashing which is meant to produce conformity rather than political emancipation of their class. The deception again, forms the bedrock of most of the so-called cultural values, since the belief in the sanctity of these values either promotes or undermines the collective interest of some people or group of persons.We adopt the conventional meaning of the word 'emancipation' in this paper. For instance, if people are emancipated, they are freed from unpleased or unfair social, political, or legal restrictions. This is the crux of the matter. In Africa in general, and Nigeria in particular, leaders as well as their so-called Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) have failed to truly emancipate the womenfolk so as to bridge the gap between men and women in social, economic, political, and legal matters. Having viewed the gender issue holistically, our searchlight is then beamed on Nigerian political terrain where, we argue, that despite the cacophony that has accompanied the wife of the president's effort for 'women emancipation', it is discovered that rather than such effort being nationalistic, it is truly a self-motivated and self-directed lot. This study is significant in the sense that it affirms that the achievement of one's goal in life is not determined by the person's sex or gender, colour, or even country of origin, but on his or her potentials, both natural and acquired, and how such potentials are effectively put into use.

Keywords: affirmative action, brainwashing, culture, development, emancipation, empowerment, gender.

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