NAVIGATING THE SEAS: WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN NIGERIA

McGill Journal of Education, Fall 2003 by Odejide, Abiola

ABSTRACT. The article describes the expansion in the numbers of women students at universities in Nigeria since the 1940s, pointing out regional differences and the ways in which development strategies to promote science and technology in education have put a brake on the enrollment of women. It also explores the limited openings for women academics in higher education in Nigeria, and the initiatives women have undertaken to promote professional development.

PARCOURIR LES MERS : LES FEMMES EN ENSEIGNEMENT SUPÉRIEUR AU NIGERIA

RESUME. L'article decrit l'augmentation du nombre d'etudiantes dans les universites du Nigeria depuis les annees 1940 et fait ressortir les disparites regionales ainsi que la maniere dont les strategies de developpement qui visaient a promouvoir la science et la technologie en education ont freine l'inscription des femmes. Il explore aussi le nombre limite de debouches pour les femmes universitaires en enseignement superieur au Nigeria, et fait etat des initiatives prises par les femmes pour promouvoir le perfectionnement professionnel.

Universities are viewed in many African countries as critical institutions for national development, providing a corps of educated elite to serve the community and nation. In Nigeria, university education was provided from 1948 with the establishment of the University College of Ibadan as a college of the University of London, around the same time that Legon University in the then Gold Coast, (now Ghana), and Makerere in Uganda were founded. The University College of Ibadan started off with 104 students, 3 of who were female. One, Olufunmilayo Nzegwu later described them as "three hopeful young girls' who had 'high expectations of making a new Nigeria of highly qualified people and of high ideals' (Nzekwu, 1980, p. 31). The graduates of the universities in the British colonies were typically male, western in orientation and nurtured to "make possible a politics of independence that could relate well with the concerns of the Europeans" (Manya, 2000).

Between 1948 and 1974, six universities were set up in Nigeria. However, in the 1970s there was a dramatic expansion in higher education and by 1979, there were 39. Expansion has continued, but at a slower rate. In 2002 there were 59, universities:52 government owned and 7 private. Between 1975 and 1996, student enrolment grew from 26,000 to 236,261 (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1997). But, as will be shown, this significant growth in enrolments has shown larger increases in male student numbers than female.

This paper focuses on the experiences and engagements of women as student, staff and managers in higher education in Nigeria. It is based partly on an analysis of the documents of selected universities and on a small-scale study involving interviews with women in university management positions at three universities in the south and discussions and correspondence with women who are members of a number of networks of women academics.

Since 1948, when the three young girls entered the University College of Ibadan, there has been a significant increase in the number of women having access to higher education.. The overall picture for the country indicates large number of women admitted to higher education in 2000. They comprise 40% of all admissions, but there is considerable variation across the zones of the country. Thus there are many fewer admissions of women and men from the northern zones, compared to the southern zones, but in the northern zones women comprise just over a quarter of admissions, compared to just under half in the south east zone and around a third in the other southern zones. (See Tables at end)

In much writing on the expansion of higher education in Nigeria the emphasis tends to be on numbers. Rarely is the focus on introspection into the roles and perceptions of women who have entered higher education regarding the impact and the significance of the positions they are occupying. Structural and cultural barriers have been discussed (Alele-Williams, 1992), but the nature of the experience remains to be documented. There is also a need to examine the factors which may account for women's entry into higher education and the policies which are in place within institutions which can be appropriated to serve the ends of women's advancement and ensure the sustainability of the trend for increasing numbers of admissions.

The university is still unfamiliar terrain to many female students and staff, especially in certain disciplines like Science and Technology and in management. Examining both figures and policies in Nigeria, Pereira (2002, p. 1) notes the "although university systems tend to be spoken of in gender neutral terms, the effects of their workings are far from gender neutral." The first female staff was employed in the year of Nigeria's independence, 1960, in the Department of History (Interview, Awe, 2002). The percentages of female academic staff recruited in Nigerian universities in 1996 /97 were: