ABSTRACT

The study analyzed the social exclusion of women’s voices in rural community development in South-east, Nigeria. The study specifically ascertained women’s economic status in the communities, examined the extent of women’s exclusion from administrative and development activities, assessed the extent of women’s exclusion from decision-making processes, determined the women’s opinion regarding who takes decisions for community priority projects, among others. Multi-stage sampling procedure was adopted in selecting 360 respondents for the study. Primary data were collected through the use of structured questionnaire and analyzed using both descriptive (frequency, percentages, mean) and inferential (multiple regression, ANOVA) statistics. Pooled grand mean results from the three selected States affirmed that women had high level of exclusion from the decision making process (x = 2,85), were not involved in decision making on community projects (x = 1.72), were ready to accept leadership positions (x = 3.20), made contributions to community developments (x = 3.47), faced socio-cultural barriers in decision making (x = 3.54) and agreed that “August Meetings” projects women’s voices.   Results of multiple regression showed that the coefficients of ownership of properties (1%), access to micro-savings (1%), were statistically significant though negatively related to women’s exclusion in community administration; coefficients of education (1%), monthly income (1%), significantly influenced women’s exclusion from community development activities; the coefficients of ownership of property (5%), access to paid employment (1%) were statistically significant and negatively related to social exclusion from decision making and the coefficients of education (5%), occupation (5%) were statistically significant and inversely related to women’s exclusion in decision making in the area. ANOVA result revealed that F-test (1.686) was not statistically significant at P < 0.05, indicating that women’s opinion regarding who takes decisions for priority projects in the communities differed significantly. The ANOVA result equally revealed that F-test was not statistically significant at P < 0.05, indicating the women’s readiness to accept leadership position did not differ significantly across the States. The study concluded that women had low inclusion in community administration, had high level of exclusion from decision making processes, and faced socio-cultural barriers. The study therefore, recommended that Community decision-making processes and executive positions in community administration should not be male dominated. Nigerian customary laws should be designed to ensure gender equality.