MILL’S FEMINISM AND THE POLITICAL ADVANCEMENT OF NIGERIA
Elijah Okon John 1
Emem David Ekong 2
Department of Philosophy, University of Uyo, Nigeria
Corresponding Email: ememdekong@gmail.com 2
Abstract
This paper entitled: “Mill’s Feminism and the Political Advancement of Nigeria” is an attempt to analyze and use John Stuart Mill’s concept of feminism for the advancement of politics in Nigeria. This study, therefore, proceeds from the understanding that for many decades now, studies on feminism and gender mainstreaming, have been conducted and significant progress has been made. However, certain issues surrounding dimensions of gender equality are still hazy. It is the intention of this paper to examine issues concerning women in relation to political developments which are very problematic in Nigeria. This work interrogates the unhealthy discrepancies between the locations of men and women in society in every facet of life. These issues seem to place particular emphasis on the oppression and marginalization of women at all levels. Utilising on Mill’s feminism as it’s theoretical framework, this paper explores the subsisting marginalization of women within the context of Nigeria’s political space that previous researchers focused on. The paper aims at showing the possible linkage between gender identity, gender representation, gender mainstreaming and political developments in Nigeria, from the perspective of Mill. Hence, it employs the analytic method in investigating the significance of Mill’s feminism within the ambience of the Nigerian political developments. This study reveals that women in Nigeria are not only marginalized, but highly subdued and oppressed from all fronts. Thus, this paper concludes that Mill’s notion of feminism will certainly engender equality, effective mainstreaming, social cohesion among the sexes, and also serve as instrument for social and political engineering in an attempt to reinvent a new Nigeria.
Keywords: Feminism, Development, Political Advancement, Mill’s Feminism, Nigeria.
