Gender Inequality: Implication for Socio-Economic Development in Nigeria.

This study used secondary data to examine Gender and Development in Nigeria. Human development is people-oriented in the sense that human beings are the end objectives of development. The search for freedom, well-being and dignity of individuals in all societies when individuals are not just passive recipients of progress has called for gender equality. Gender inequality is strongly correlated with poverty, making women at the low end of income distribution, at greater risk to sources of insecurity with implications for life expectancy. The study revealed that the ratio of male to female in socio-economic and political development is very low. This is evidenced in the great disparity of women participating in politics, access to education and public goods, employment opportunities, access to bank loans, land and property, high rate of maternal mortality and many more. The paper recommends that there is the need to bridge the gap between the male and female for any meaningful development to take place. This can be done by allowing people to have equal opportunities to education, effectively adopted and appropriately enforced gender quota, changing cultural beliefs, empowering women to contribute to economic growth and allow women to have access to land like their male counterparts