Gender and Social Development Issues

All over the world, gender issues have remained an engaging discourse at different levels and diplomatic circles due to contusion about the concept. This is because people tend to limit gender to "sex" which is categorized into male and female. Further still it is associated with the social movement known as Women Liberation and the GirlChild right. Recently, sustainable development goals seem to concentrate on gender inequality and women empowerment to add to the difficulty in appreciating gender values in a globalized world economy, it is important to understand that roles designated via gender-based policies impact negatively on social development. Developmental issues are better harnessed with the active co-operation and collaboration of both sexes where equal opportunities are provided. In this paper, we offer some explanations to the concept of gender for a better understanding and application of the concept for a uniform human capacity development of communities in Igbo land. The work shall therefore examine gender as differentiated "generic', gender equity and equality in social development and conclude by suggesting what could be done to improve gender openness in social developmental issues to which gender partisanship is an impediment.


Gender equity
Gender equity is the process of being fair to women and women according to UNPA (2005); this involves fairness' in the treatment and consideration of men and women in accordance with their respective needs and aspirations but strictly in terms of rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities (FAO. 2016).
The demands of Gender equity according to Nzewi (2017), is that girls and women he provided with a full range of activity and program-choices that meet their needs, interests and experiences: which entails that some activities of similitude would be given to the girls as well as the boys and could be altered, to suit the purpose. Equity leads to equality and so Gender equality requires equal enjoyment by men and women of socially-valued goods, opportunities, resources and rewards as Nzewi maintains, Gender equity however, does not mean that women and men become the same, rather than their opportunities and life chances are equal. Therefore, Gender equity encounters and addresses gender norms as attributes and characteristics of male and female at a particular point or moment in history for a specific society or community.

Human dynamism
Gender equality is intrinsically linked to sustainable development and it is vital to realization of human rights for all. The summation of gender equality is a society in which men and women enjoy the same opportunities, rights and obligations in all aspects of life. Gender seen as a set of characteristics pertaining to differentiation between masculinity and femininity must embrace socialization as a process by which individuals acquire and internalize knowledge as well as roles required for full integration into a group or human community. In this case the agents of socialization necessarily include the family, schools, job places, groups and social classes. Gender not only classifies humans into males and females but essentially arranges their peculiarities in activities implicatively proper to each and therefore has real possibilities of change.
In this vane, Nwagbara (2009:205) comments: like 'race', 'ethnicity' and 'class'; gender is a social category that largely establishes a person's life chances, and shaping one's participation in the society. The ability lo acknowledge gender issues or gender sensitivity helps people as a matter of fact to de-emphasize traditional bias and seek for certitude in their views about men and women in their obligations and rights'. Sequel to this, gender differentiates roles that arc proper to men and women such as in the upbringing of a baby the woman has the exclusivity of breast feeding and baby-sitting while the man is to secure the environment for the baby and mother to grow by the provision of the basic financial requirements. These complementary and mutually gender-ascribed roles stabilize the society as an imperative of culture and social development.

Gender and Social Developmental Issues
Social development is the process of mobilizing and organizing efforts and activities of vulnerable and marginalized individuals, communities and groups to improve their quality of life which hitherto are real issues of concern through equitable access to resources and opportunities. Therefore, in the process of social development, gender characteristics according to Anyanwu Samuel (2017) becomes the new methodology required to appreciate the deeper roles performed by both males and females in the developmental process.
Whereas in the old societies of Africa for instance, the boys were to demonstrate masculinity by awesome heroic acts of competition and are denounce any show of femininity, the females are asked to be passive, docile and co-operative. However, the 21 st century has emerged with great competition in the technical, technological and economic spectrum; Globalization has compelled a paradigm shift as both genders remains a special focus in developmental issues with none supplicating for clemency in participation. Women have ventured actively into diverse fields of discoveries even in most of the areas originally reserved for men thus changing the social narrative on human sexuality.
China as an emerging super economy and a developing nation with the largest population in the world with a conservative overall population of about 1.3 billion people has the women lo account for half of the population. With this stand, the promotion of gender equality and the overall development of women are not only of great significance for China's development but have special influence on the efforts for the advancement of mankind. Therefore, the Chinese government has, made fairness, and justice with gender equality an important part of efforts to build a harmonious socialist society and therefore has utilized economic, legal, administrative, public opinion and other measures to ensure that women enjoy equal rights with men in terns of politics, economy, culture and social as well as family life and constantly pushes forward women's all-round development.

Education
Education remains the bedrock of any society and the great factor of social engineering and development. Any nation with poorly educated masses is susceptible to many social plague not excluding crisis, of under development. The 21 st century remains an education driven-century. (Blogger, 1995) as quoted by Duru (20I2), economic, social and political development of even nation depend to a large extent on the extent to which greater population of the nation is educated and gender disparity or inequality is diminished. This implies that even one including women Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5766 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0484 (Online) Vol. 10, No.22, 2020 must he emancipated through proper education on equal pedestal as their male counterparts or better put, gender equality and equity in education.
The Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations has as part of its agenda the promotion of gender equity, women empowerment and girl-child education even in primary and secondary schools. Nigeria is an ally to the Vision 2020 development agenda when all must have attained reasonable heights in education to the elimination of gender-stereotypes. Education of all persons must be underscored as a panacea to environmental and socio-developmental problems.
China has the inclusive educational blue-print enshrined in their legal provisions, whereby women enjoy the same rights and opportunities as men to receive education clearly spelt out their Education Law, Compulsory Education Law and Vocational Law, Concrete measures and actions are taken to ensure that the girls receive a nine-year compulsory education and also that women have more opportunities to receive secondary and higher education. All these are in a bid to eliminate illiteracy among young and middle-aged women, to promote lifelong education for women and extend their average years of education in order to contribute to social developmental programs. Hence, past records showed that in China in 2004, the enrolment of boys and girls was 98.97% and 98.93% respectively in order to eliminate gender disparities at the stage of compulsory education. As a result, in the 21 st century, we experience the huge presence of Chinese men and women who are experts and professionals in many important fields of human endeavour spread all over the world especially in developing nation.
The context of UNESCO new data report maintains that Education Transforms Development Education eliminates high poverty rate and any nation that trivializes the education of her citizenry both technical and vocational or even adopts any form of partisanship in education is taking a fast step towards the hall of eviction from development and history. Pittin (1990) was of the view that the systematic and systemic imbalances in the Nigerian educational system produced regional and gender gaps that have continued for many decades after independent. . Low quality of education combined with vast inequalities in educational opportunity remains a potent challenge for national development in Nigeria. It is maintained that if a woman is empowered educationally, a whole nation is empowered. Corroborating this, the former United States' Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. John Campbell (Channel's TV. 2018) said: "in Nigeria if there is increase in female-literacy, there will be dramatic decrease in female early marriage and poverty". Dollar & Gatti (l999) opines: globally, improved access to education for females accounts for about 47% increase in economic development in many developing nations of the world. Klasen (2002) maintained that persistent gender inequality hinders growth and development in education in Third World countries and responsible for poor social development.

Information and Communication Technologies (1CT)
It is obvious that gender-responsive ICT can make technologies such as the computers, telephones etc readily available for easy access to internet by men and women in order to gel information and participate in new generating activities as globalization has shrunken distances between peoples. The 21 st century technological revolution is a great challenge to both men and women but more importantly the women must key into the development to change their social narrative. Therefore ICT will definitely assist to reduce women's burden of labour in time consuming tasks, and make them less dependent on men for economic security.

Politics
Gender openness and reciprocity remains a difficult issue in world politics as main societies still hangs on male superiority and dominance in all spheres of human endeavour including politics. The stakes are raised so high often to the determined exclusion of the female gender. In 2016, Hillary Clinton wielded so much political relevance in the American politics but could not win the American votes to clinch the presidential seat. In Nigeria it might be too difficult for a woman to lead comfortably in national polities especially in occupying the higher political office in the land at least for the next two decades. Women's participation in decision making and management of state and social affairs especially polities cannot be over-emphasized.
Nevertheless, China is a leading example in gender inclusiveness in political affairs. In the 1995 promulgation of the Election Law of the National People's Congress and the Local People's Republic of China, it stipulates that deputies to the National People's Congress (NPC) and local people's congresses at all levels should include appropriate numbers of women and this should be increased step by step. The Chinese example has given women the great interest in political mailers in electing deputies to the people's congresses at all levels and exercising their democratic rights. Hence, the proportion of women among the deputies to the Tenth National People's Congress is 20.2% and women members account for 13.2 % of all members of the standing committee. More so, the three of the vice-chairpersons of the NPC's standing committee are women.
Conversely, in Nigeria, the last concluded party primaries elections of 2018 witnessed determined exclusion of the women from the slots. The All Progressives Party (APC) disqualified former Minister of Women Affairs from contesting the Taraba State APC gubernatorial primaries without warning which led to her decamping with Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5766 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0484 (Online) Vol. 10, No.22, 2020 her supporters to a new party, the. (UDP), The former minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili emerged as a presidential aspirant in one of the political parties (Allied Congress Party of Nigeria), but we know that she may not go too far because our political culture is built around males who as it were must determine who gets into the contest .
However, proper education has one basic result, the production of technocrats and ideologically sound individuals to steer the ship of the nation to the shore despite turbulence. Therefore, in the politics of any nation, both men and women are to be afforded the level playing grounds to contribute their quota to national development. Often the women are known as the better managers of the home front, yet Nigeria is emphasizing a 35% affirmative action for them and consigning them to the Kitchen and the "other room".
There is no where it is written in history or Law reports that men understand mathematics and polities better than women. It is a question of opportunity proper utilized and investment devoid of treachery the political landscape of any nation is determined by the awareness and education of the political gladiators irrespective of gender. Political advancement is important if a nation must survive but it requires the collaboration of both genders in governance; not keeping the women in the kitchen and the other room" only.

Governance
Governance comprises all of the processes of governing, whether undertaken by the government of a state, by a market or by a network over a system (family, tribe, formal or informal organization, a territory or across territories) and whether through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society, Essentially it involves two elements: decision-making and implementation of decisions about the needs of the individuals and groups in the state.
The effort to reduce poverty and promote economic growth emphasizes the need for communities and groups to be able to influence the public institutions to affect their well-being. Good governance is essential which entails that public institutions must be efficient, transparent and accountable. Further the processes of governance must be inclusive and participatory so that every citizen must have opportunities to demand accountability from their government. The situation in some African countries like Nigeria is despicable as re-election and voting occupies the attention of the politicians for their own good, their cronies and families instead of good governance for the citizenry. The scenario is that instead of the politicians being afraid of the citizens, the citizens are now becoming afraid of the leaders.

Infrastructure
Infrastructure is the term for the basic physical systems of' a business or a nation: transportation, communication, water, electricity, health care institutions etc. Males and females have different roles, responsibilities, and constraints which result in gender-based differential in demand for and use of infrastructure facilities and services. However, the development effectiveness and sustainability of the infrastructure sector could increase significantly by addressing gender differences in demand and utilization. For instance because of the variation in the needs of men and women in developing countries, the failure of the transport sector places tremendous challenges lo the women especially in the rural areas. The reality of the situation is that men have easy access to mobility than the women: because, a pregnant woman who goes into labour in atypical rural location have 50-50 chances of survival using a motorcycle to get to the hospital on a bad road riding for two hours in the midnight. Infrastructural deficit is inimical to social development.

Water and Sanitation
Generally, men and women have different roles in water supply and sanitation activities which are very obvious especially in the rural areas. Men's demands for water are less worrisome but for the women it is more acute for so many reasons and they benefit when the water situation and quality is improved as the direct users of it. It is important to invoke men and women together in decisions about what public facilities they require at any given time, instead of giving it to them as a gift whether necessary or not and the women can assist in financing some of them. Hence, improvement on water schemes with the involvement of women will necessarily increase women's human capital, reduce their time constraints, improve their economic strength and community health which will in turn improve the productivity of the society. An improved water situation for both men and women makes economic sense for the society at large.

Health
It is a popular aphorism that 'a healthy mind lives in a healthy body equally a healthy nation must have healthy population because health is wealth. According to the world health Organization (WHO, 2013) health is defined as the "state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. It cuts across so many areas of the human well-being from reproductive health, maternal/child health to community health programs. Maternal and infant mortality rate in Africa is still on the rise-as there are no concerted efforts Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5766 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0484 (Online) Vol. 10, No.22, 2020 to aid the women during pregnancy whereas their cases should form legislative issues in the national and state assemblies. It is even more worrisome that 58 years after independence; it was only on 9 November, 2007 that the first and only female Minister of health in Nigeria Prof. Adenike Grange was appointed.
Many nations of the world especially the advanced nations have health policies that promote the well-being of their citizenry with proactive health insurance policies while most of their counterparts in the African continent are yet to define what health policies arc useful to their people as there is politics in the health programs. In Nigeria, the wife of the president Mrs. Aisha Buhari raised the red Hag on the A so Rock clinic in the presidential house in 20I7 that the hospital lacked common analgesics. If the presidential villa lacks a well equipped health clinic we can imagine what the hope of the common Nigerian could he as far as health is concerned. To think health is to think wealth as main people are wont to believe. But just as a health; mind resides in a healthy body so also a health; population constitutes a healthy nation.

Insecurity
The threat of insecurity is a global challenge but that of Africa poses so much danger to the growth and survival of the region and many nations as well. The experience of the people of Syria in the last couple of years, the threat of ISIS and Boko Haram insurgence; ravaging Nigeria and the Herdsmen killings leaves more women and children typically endangered.
In 2014 and 2018 for instance, the Boko Hara sect unleashed her onslaught in the North East of Nigeria, abducted so many young school girls from their school (Zenn &Pearson,2014), thus instilling fears into the young girls as many of them who escaped vowed not to return to school again. This further holds human capacity development at bay capable of increasing the population of beggars in the society. Crilly (2013) made a report about the Pakistani Taliban soldier who shot the 15 year old Malala Yousafzai and also another Taliban who threw acid on the faces of young girls who despite the situation opted for proper education. All these have a particular gender as target to stultify their chances in the society.
In accordance with gender inhibitions, Kristof (2014) believes that militants and fanatics are so scared of girls' education because there is no force more powerful to transform the society that: their education because it changes the demography. A mother's effort to raise her children properly is for the economic and social development of the society. Most of Asian countries economic prosperity is anchored on the knowledge transfer to the girls and relocating them from the rural to the urban areas with more productive prospects (Herz 2006: Sachs 2006). But insecurity forms a major stumbling block to this especially in Africa the epicenter of all these violent and fatal drama.

Human trafficking
Human trafficking is a current issue constraining social development. This is the trade of human beings especially for the purposes of forced labour, sexual slavery for one's economic benefit or sexual exploitation for the gains of the trafficker. The cartel is a network of operator who are globally connected and en gage in very dehumanizing business activities of human beings not excluding organ harvesting and sale. Human trafficking is a human rights violation, globally condemned by international human rights conventions because the persona freedoms and lights to movements of the victims are greatly impeded as they are often brutalized and even killed in the process. The International Labour Organization maintains that conservative estimate of women and girls represent the largest chunk of forced labour victims with about 11.4 million trafficked persons (55%) in comparison to 9.5 million (45%) in (dosomething.org, 2016). It is indubitable that forcing victims into prostitution, slavery is denigrating the human worth of a person, socially counter-productive and morally reprehensible. The women are the worst victims in this situation who are confronted with a lot of health and social consequences such as diseases, psychological trauma. Stigmatization, alienation and being pitched against the laws of the nations where these cartels are based (Ditmore & Juhu: Cianciarulo, 2006).
Worthy of note is that Ira flickers often take advantage of family dysfunction, homelessness and other demeaning factors to manipulate women and children into the trafficking industry (Wilson and Butler, 2013). The victims are often cut off from all forms of social connection, as isolation gives the perpetrator the muzzle to alter the victims' sense of true worth as a person making him entirely dependent on the perpetrator.
Moreover, in the psychology of the human person, complex trauma seems to be more expansive in diagnosis as a result of the effects of prolonged trauma (Courtois: 2004) which can actually jeopardize their sense of judgement and social integration.
Nigeria is a worst case scenario; as a nation she holds the flag in the kidnapping and trafficking business, and that is why her numerous developmental challenges could linger for many years because of the ransom attached, often the victims died and moreover investors find it difficult to invest in an insecure environment.

Private Sector Development
It is an obvious statement that Private Sector Development (PSD) partnership plays very significant role in the www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5766 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0484 (Online) Vol. 10, No.22, 2020 development index of am nation, whereby the investment climate and market access provides new income opportunities to both men and women and market-type mechanisms endeavours to empower poor people by improving the quality of basic social services, in this direction special gender considerations is given to certain key areas such as: disparities in asset ownership; labour market imbalances; access to finance; access to markets; and business enabling environment.

Disparities in asset ownership
In many nations of the world, it is clear that there exist gender disparities in asset ownership. Land which seems to be the most valued asset: often the women are constrained by law and customs to ownership, unable lo procure and use land without a male surety and fabulous collateral. This is inefficient and able to hamper development. Such laws and customs ought to be repealed to provide level playing ground for both genders to thrive.

Iabour market imbalances
Akin to the disparities in asset ownership is the prejudices against hiring women especially of productive age... This stifles social development as the traditional skepticism against women deprives the nation of the productive energy of the more populous segment of' the nation.

Access to financial services
This is a prerogative to positive saving culture. Designing financial institutions in a way that addresses gender specific constraints by substituting traditional forms of collateral or by delivering financial services closer to homes, markets and workplaces could actually shore up savings and engender relative viability and competitiveness of female run enterprises. In many countries of the sub-Saharan Africa; like Nigeria, micro-finance banks and the "mobile banking' have helped the locals to access financial institutions around their immediate environment thereby reducing the stress of long trips to get financial assistance. This is crucial to drive social development to the very points of needs of the populace even though it has not reached all places.

Contribution to the Paper
Gender equality is an important goal in itself and a significant means for achieving development. This entails that development policies and institutions must ensure that in all segments of society, the opinions of both male and female counts in decision making either directly or through legitimate agents representing their needs and interests. Ability does not have much to do with gender constitution but intellectual awareness especially in the 21 st century. The new report by The World Poverty Clock slums Nigeria has taken over from India as the country with the most extreme poor people in the world' with about 86.9 million Nigerians living in extreme poverty representing nearly 50%of its estimated population of 180 million people as many people live below a dollar per day. Therefore, the projection is that by the year 2050 Nigeria would have become the poverty "Capital" or Headquarters of the world. In the alleviation and elimination of poverty, the Chinese model should be the guide of world governments especially if the millennium development goals are set to achieve.
The implementation of large-scale and effective special poverty-reduction development programs in order to reduce and eradicate poverty especially among the rural population of which women constitute the highest population is a policy action that cannot be repudiated. To this effect, in the Global Conference on Speeding Up Poverty Reduction, held in Shanghai in 2004, the Chinese government look a policy direction towards the alleviation and elimination of poverty and emphasized that preference would be given lo poor women and then encouraged them to participate in poverty reduction programs. Consequently, from 2001-1004, the Chinese government injected a total of 13.52 billion Yuan in small-sum credit loans for rural households targeting the poor women to "enhance the whole village". This measure extends to supporting and encouraging NGOs in order to assist the women to get rid of poverty, to think and create wealth all over their nation and the world at large.
The persistent and pervasive gender disparities in opportunities and rights have placed limitations to women's ability to fully participate as citizens of nations in the social, economic and political life. Such gender-based exclusion compromises prospects for high quality service delivery and social development.

Conclusion
It is common belief that 'knowledge' is the driver of the 21 st century which actually stimulates transformation and social development. Bill Gates (Born 1955), one of the world's richest men through technological innovation, aggressive business tactics and cognate experience leaves a note to Nigeria' and Africa that crude oil is not the live-wire of the world. In other words prioritization of knowledge remains the only key to national development irrespective of gender.
We must note that traditional attitudes of limiting participation in polities to men is not very healthy; most cultures of the world are rising up against this gender-limiting policy and Africa must wake up too to liberalize participation in polities by women especially in seeking the most exalted positions of leadership such as the Research on Humanities and Social Sciences www.iiste.org ISSN 2224-5766 (Paper) ISSN 2225-0484 (Online) Vol. 10, No.22, 2020 presidency of the nations. It is proper to assert the position of women in the development of the society because the emphasis on male dominance in the society leaves the women extremely vulnerable to all manner of illtreatments not excluding rape, sexual abuse, domestic and work-place violence, low education, unemployment and sexual harassment to further underscore their subjugation.
The United Nations has dedicated the 11 th of October as International Day of the Girl-Child to draw attention to global challenges facing female adolescents all over the world. UNICEF has argued that "every child deserves to reach his or her full potentials, but notes that gender inequalities in their lives and the lives of those who care for them hinder this reality. Some of the parents would quickly give out the girls in marriage at the slightest opportunity. Statistics discovered on the organization's website decry that almost each year about 12 million girls are married before their 18 th birthday. For some other reasons I in 5 girls becomes a mother before same age globally. About 98 million girls are out of secondary school.
Some who manage to earn University education are shut out of major professional courses and there is no provision for entrepreneurial skills such that most of the girl ends up as street sweepers and petrol attendants with no financial security. These girls and women excluded from certain jobs could have excelled if not for gender inequity. All these hamper socio-economic development. We must leverage on knowledge transfer and robust deployment of technology devoid of gender-partisanship in order to engender socio-economic development.