Ladipo Adamolekun
27 August 2008
opinion
The widely-held view point in both the media and the development literature is that a discussion of gender and development relates to how best to empower women to ensure their full participation in the development process.
Consequently, gender studies and gender sensitivity are interpreted to mean concern with, and support for, female empowerment in all fields of human endeavour. The last three decades have witnessed significant progress in promoting female empowerment in both developed and developing countries.
Rwanda President, Paul Kagame, has summed up the advanced state of awareness on the subject as follows: "We cannot expect to develop if we disqualify half of our population - women - from full and equal participation in national endeavours. Equal rights for women are an economic, social, cultural and political necessity".
In contrast, attention to male gender issues in development is a more recent development with social scientists in Australia, Britain and USA leading the way. Across rich and poor countries, men's issues relating to health and crime, violence, and armed conflict are very similar.
To reduce violence against women, men must be involved. Predictably, it quickly emerged that, as with the case of female gender issues, male gender issues have strong similarities in rich and poor countries.
There are two main areas of concern. First, a case is made for attention to some specific development issues that relate to the male gender: the linkage between masculinity (the idea of being male expressed through marriage/fatherhood...) and HIV/AIDS pandemic, conflicts and wars, urban crime and delinquency, insecurity, and terrorism. Second, it is argued that addressing male gender issues is central to achieving the goal of women's equality.
The Other Half of Gender: Men's Issues in Development (2006) co-edited by two World Bank social development specialists, Ian Bannon and Maria Correia, is a bold corrective to the prevailing virtual exclusion of "the other half of gender" from the discourse on gender and development. The eleven chapters in the book focus on varying aspects of one or both points with particular references to one or more countries in Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa.
The treatment of masculinity (the plural, masculinities is used in a couple of chapters) in the book is worth sharing. From the accounts in several of the chapters, masculinity is strikingly similar across countries in the two regions: from Columbia to Jamaica in Latin America and the Caribbean to Rwanda and Kenya in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The strong linkage between masculinity and violence is juxtaposed with the inadequate attention of males to their roles as fathers and heads of families. It is striking that men's gender issues are very similar across countries in the two regions covered in the book. They are summed up in the concept of masculinity because of some variations on the theme in some countries.
The key message in the book is the need to move from zero-sum to an inclusive, win-win formulation of the gender agenda - what is referred to in parts of the book as "a holistic gender framework."
This is a sensible plea for writers and activists to move from views such as: "... until the disadvantages faced by women are addressed, the needs of men and boys should be secondary" - a viewpoint that is strongly linked to the idea of "women as victim and men as a problem".
As one of the authors insightfully points out, "Women's well-being often cannot improve without including men because gender is relational ... interventions directed at women are often ineffective or unsustainable if men do not cooperate or are not involved." In another chapter, attention is drawn to the fact that neglected and frustrated males in rural areas where development activities focus on women resort to domestic violence and alcoholism.
Of the recommendations provided in different parts of the book the following would be relevant to the situation in Nigeria - some could be more relevant in some parts than in others.
1. Youth policies should include gender from both a male and female perspective.
2. There is need to study the underachievement of males in education: "Boys tend to undervalue education and opt for quick financial returns in the labour market"
3. Gender and discussion about masculinities should be included in classroom and workforce training.
4. Governments need to focus on jobs and skills of rural and urban youth.
I would strongly recommend The Other Half of Gender to policymakers, gender activists (female and male), students of sociology as well as the general reader.
Posers for Ghana's justice system re- Dr. Tsatsu Tsikata
In recent years, Ghana has enjoyed more press coverage in Nigeria than other member countries of ECOWAS and the country has been almost always portrayed in good light. For example, in its 18th August issue, The News (a weekly magazine) carried a travelogue on "Accra: a city that works." It is against the backdrop of the positive image the country enjoys in Nigeria that I would like to draw attention to a disturbing case of apparent injustice involving one of the country's leading intellectuals, Dr. Tsatsu Tsikata (fondly referred to as TT).
Oxford-educated TT taught law at the University of Ghana, Legon, before he veered into politics and became the chief executive of Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC) in 1988 under the regime of Jerry Rawlings.
He served in the position until Kufour succeeded Rawlings in 2000. A few months after he left GNPC, there was allegation that he had caused financial loss of about $200,000 to the state through an investment decision of GNPC during his tenure at the helm of the company. TT was subsequently charged to court in November 2001.
TT contested the allegation and the court hearings dragged on until June 18, 2008 when TT was convicted and jailed for five (5) years by Justice Henrietta Abbam on charges of "willfully causing financial loss to the state". Because Justice Abbam had not given notice that she would deliver judgment on that day, TT's lawyer was not in court.
The Justice asked TT to defend himself! TT's lawyer was not in court partly because no notice had been given that it would be judgment day, and partly because the same Justice Abbam had stated in an earlier court hearing that judgment would be delayed until an appeal relating to the case made by TT before a superior court is decided.
Why the indecent haste on June 18? Why did Justice Abbam decide not to give notice that she would deliver judgment on that day? And why did she reverse her earlier sensible position to delay judgment until the superior court had decided on TT's pending appeal?
It is because of these posers that TT is perceived in sections of the Ghanaian media as a victim of injustice linked to bias and/or possible political victimization. Given the high reputation of Ghana's justice system outside its shores, the superior court needs to speedily decide on TT's pending appeal.
PS: Prof Adamolekun will be on vacation in September and Nigeria Notes will return on October 1.
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