ADDRESSING THE RISING POPULATION OF WOMEN-LED HOUSEHOLDS
By Rakiya A. Muhammad, Jos

November 27, 2003 – (Daily Trust - Abuja) The rising of women-led households and the predicament of this group of women in the society came under searchlight at a seminar organised by the information and support centre for women and children, recently in Jos.

Presenting a paper on the challenges of women-led households in Nigeria, Mr Efem Ubi expressed concern that the population of such household is on the rapid increase, adding "this is such a large and fast growing group that sociologists use the term 'feminization of poverty' to describe the plight of single female headed families who are existing at/or below the United Nations determined poverty level."

He said statistics have shown that in Nigeria today, one out of five marriages ends in divorce, three out of seven families with young children are now being raised by a lone parent, and between 20 to 30 per cent of all children under 25-years of age will spend some time in a single parent household headed by a woman.

Mr Ubi observed that a woman headed household is a creation that has to do with a galaxy of factors such as parent widowed by death of the other parent (father), out of marriage birth, divorced parents raising their children alone, single individuals adopting children or serving as foster parent and widowed grandparents raising their gradchildren. He observed that in most women-led households, it is the children who pay the price more as they have to contend with negative stereotype and hurtful remarks made by insensitive adults and other children.

While highlighting the challenges and problems of women-led households, Mr Ubi noted that single female parents commonly experience difficulties with role identify. "Some social stigma is still attached to single parents status especially women, regardless of how it was acquired. For single mothers, development of positive role identity is often hampered by their inability to support their families financially."

He said from statistical analysis, households headed by women are the poorest, noting wage differences between men and women which arises from lack of labour and market preparation or from discrimina-tion, as reinforcing low income status of women. Other problems such group face as identified by Ubi include:

Lack of formal education and job skills limit access to occupation that provide enough income for acceptable standard of living.

The challenges of dealing with overload; the female single parents frequently feel overwhelmed by the responsi-bility, tasks and emotional overload associated with raising children alone.

There is also the problem of having realistic expectations by females who head single homes. They lack the focus on success in most cases, they do not know what should be of priority and importance.

A lot of female single parents cannot afford high quality day care, a major barrier to attending career development and skill acquisition programmes, as well as maintaining employment.

Women who head single households have not in the main, in most cases been able to differentiate clear boundaries between them and their children. They make the mistakes of allowing their children to become equal partners or peers. This leads to serious individual and family problems.

Mr Ubi who stressed the need for them to be helped to meet these challenges, asserted "it is generally known that their private troubles have become public issues. What options do they have for a meaningful life? What remedies are there for this growing and poverty stricken group?
What direction do we take in salvaging these parents and rescuing their children?"

He opined that as preliminary, the solutions to these problems should be a change in public policy and attitude towards women-led households and more adequate financial support and child care system should be provided by the Nigerian government.

Ubi also suggested that there should be a focus on special assistance with career development and vocational preparation, which he observed will in turn create pre-employment and employment needs for the distinct group to help meet their needs. He drew attention to the need for school drop-out prevention and the establishment of education sites. Ubi who said teenagers who are pregnant and their parents should be special targets for drop-out prevention, suggested that effective programme should include basic skills as well as occupational preparation, accurate information and guidance related to sexually transmitted diseases and family planning, parental and family life instruction and support networks of teachers, peers and NGOs who can assist with low self-esteem, time and stress management as well as long and short term goal setting.

On the establishment of education sites, Mr Ubi explained that single parents may feel more comfortable in the adult education atmosphere provided in area vocational centre and community colleges. These sites, he argued, would overcome one of the major barriers for single parent mothers returning to school.

He advised single female parents to handle financial management effectively by paying close attention to how they spend, steps to take care of immediate needs and long-term finance management.

Earlier in an address, the coordinator, information and support centre for women and children, Anne Udoh lamented that while women and children are often numerically the majority, they are unfortunately almost always the disadvantaged. She stated "in various sectors of the Nigerian economy and society-education, health, agriculture to mention a few. The Nigeria state has hardly gone beyond rhetorics in formulating laws and policies for the good of women and children. Patterns of political appointments employ-ment and promotions are typically in favour of men."

She noted that while women are still exploited, oppressed and are still victims of harmful norms and practices in the society, maternal health conditions associated with pregnancy are not adequately addressed, "add this inadequacy to constant cases of wife abuse and battering and what you have is a perfect recipe for frustration," she asserted.

Speaking on the loss of a spouse, she described the experience as overwhelming, frightening and confusing, adding that a woman without the necessary social emotional and physical security is "somewhat lost."

Udoh said it was for such reasons that the information and support centre for women and children was formed to help validate their feelings, reduce isolation, recover their joy for life, reclaim their identities and rebuild their future.

From: http://allafrica.com/stories/200312010320.html