ナイジェリア北部における女性の生活向上支援

抄録

Tackling the Gender gaps has been one of the main development issues. Many development projects have targeted women for the improvement of their livelihood, especially through women's income generating projects. It is however revealed that women's cash earning does not always bring the improvement of women's well-being within a household. Some men may withdraw economic contribution to household, others may abuse their wives. In this paper, I would like to examine how development projects have addressed gender issues which grassroots women have been facing, and what kind of impacts have been made through a case of a development project which aimed at improving livelihoods of grassroots women in Northern Nigeria. The research found that the development project has made changes to women in terms of acquiring income generating skills, starting economic activities with the acquired skills and economic contribution to household. In addition, women become self-confident and socialized through their activities. Those women's changes have brought changes to their husbands as well. The husbands recognize that the economic contribution of their wives is important to fulfill household needs. They also perceive that their wives become socialized and have enough knowledge and information concerning their everyday life, so that the husbands are willing to consult with their wives on issues within household unlike before. In general, development projects concerning income generation are evaluated by economic aspects. However, as this case indicated, the impacts of project have social aspects. Gender gaps exist even within a household. One intervention is not enough to solve the complexity of gender issues, and it should be tackled by comprehensive and long-term assistances.