CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Generally the female gender in slum settlements has a poor quality of life. The lack of basic services affects them the most. They have tospend considerable time collecting potable water and getting rid of wastewater. Women are most disadvantaged in fishing slums in Nigeria.Combined with a traditional bias or subtle discrimination against the female genders; they are often not sent to school or dropouts in thesefishing slums in Nigeria. Most slum dwellers especially the female gender in these riverside slums do not have the exposure to everyday citylife situations which their counterparts have in the cities. As a result they are ofy

ten anxiety prone and stressed. The unhealthy and pollutedenvironment, lack of immunization, malnutrition and absence of educational exposure effects children in fishing slums. Sadly, theirphysical, emotional and intellectual growth is stunted from a very tender age. The situation with respect to women’s health in the fishingslums is no different; rather their health is neglected the most. Insecurity related to regular income, food, shelter, access to portabledrinking water, health care and other essential services, along with poverty and difficult physical and social environments, such asexploitation and abuse in the treatment of women, have an adverse impact on the health of the slum dwelling poor women. There is aconsensus among the leading international organizations like the UN, WHO, World Bank, and ILO and development scholars that to achievean effective change for better health and quality of life for women, a dual approach is needed (UNDP, 1999; Kar and Acalay, 2000). These are:(1) Reforming health and welfare systems that meet the specific and urgent needs of women (e.g. health care, day care), and(2) Reforming socio-cultural systems that perpetuate gender inequalities which are the source of all day-to-day problems (e.g. equalopportunities for education, income, cultural practices and devaluation of women).These two approaches address what Moser (2002) identifies as two types of women’s needs- practical needs’ and strategic needs’respectively. The first approach focuses on day-to-day needs that are akin to the proverb, giving a fish to a starving person; while the secondapproach is giving a fishing rod and opportunities to fish. There is synergy between health systems, human development systems, andbroader social reform. While slum dwelling Nigerian men and women in large numbers and in many nations have benefited from variousforms of social and technological developments, women continue to suffer from persistent inequalities in both poor and rich societies. Ingeneral, women carry most of the burden of caring for their children and domestic work. Research show that women also suffer most of thebrunt of poverty and abuses due to persistent inequalities and relative powerlessness in Nigerian slums (Sen 2000). Both in rich and poornations, women suffer various forms of institutionalized injustice and abuse including: denial of basic needs (education and health care),feminization of poverty, unfair opportunities for employment, income, and leadership; sexual harassment and exploitation; physicalmutilations and deaths, domestic violence; insufficient interest in gender-related issues in policy and research; and culturally conditionedpractices that endanger women’s health and quality of life in Nigeria’s fishing slums.

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