Gender dimension in nation building: An impetus for economic sustainability in post COVID-19 era

Abstract

This theoretical paper is a dissection of gender equity and fairness as the master key for the much sought-after security and sustainable economic recovery after the ravaging effects of COVID-19. The paper looks in retrospect the altruistic role of the woman in yester years as a nation builder. As it were, oral tradition particularly in Nigeria has it that women were very much part of the political history and decision-making process of the old traditional societies like the Binis, Hausas, Bokis and Yorubas etc. women were seen at the forefront of every home and societal endeavours, providing security against external and internal insurrection and even going to wars to secure her territorial integrity. However, the place of the woman as a home and nation builder was displaced at the advent of the colonial masters in Africa cum Nigeria and this becomes a stereotype on the part of the woman, it was the beginning of gender inequality. The woman is relegated to the kitchen, doing petty trading, she is only meant to be seen and not to be heard. In the wake of COVID-19, women stereotype grew worst as a result of the long-standing gender role beliefs. Women suffered the most in the wake of the covid-19 because most of them were relief of their jobs; the few that could work were at the same time playing the role of a care giver in the home, many of them could not cope with the dual role and the only option left for them is to quit the jobs and this ultimately affects the economy both at home and the country. To recover the economy from this COVID-19 quagmire one must look beyond gender disproportion. As the nation begins to build from the relics of the pandemic, and re-focus not on the things that divide us, but on those that portray our complementarily as male and female, a nation will be built whose foundation will not be threatened nor shaken by inequalities but we will emerge stronger as a complex yet united whole when we view one another as different yet important in national development. This paper recommended among others that in order to reverse the damage of the pandemic, and ensure a socially responsive recovery, women and marginalized groups must be brought into all consultations and decision-making processes.