Gender involvement in community waste management, urban Nigeria

Although women constitute a very important proportion of the world’s population, the link between women and the state of the environment has only recently begun to be recognized. Women are universally known to be closer to nature than men and this may underscore their assiduous relationship with their physical environment. Nigerian women are not homogenous because of the enormous variety of socio-economic and cultural situations which individual women may find themselves in. There are different classes of women in Nigeria, hence it is this class position that determines how a woman relates to her environment. The relationship between poorer women and the environment differs from those of the more privileged women. In the traditional Nigerian societies, domestic activities such as provision of water for general household use, maintaining a clean environment in the house by disposing household wastes and maintaining sanitation facilities, have been delegated to the women of the community. Thus the women’s influence concerning solid waste management is immensely felt in the home. The primary aim of this study was the assessment of the level of involvement of women in solid waste management in two medium income areas in Ibadan and Lagos- both highly urbanized cities in Nigeria. The secondary objectives were to: (i) Identify the specific roles, perceptions, values, attitudes and practices of women in relation to solid waste management. (ii) Examine the issues and constraints that hamper active participation of women at household, community and national levels in the planning, designing and implementation of solid waste management schemes. (iii) Evaluate women’s awareness level of waste reduction as an alternative to solving the solid waste management problems, currently plaguing the society.