FEMALE ENROLMENT FOR INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY                       
TRAINING IN NIGERIA

by Oolajire Bosede Ajayi (Mrs)* And 
Ahbor Dolly A. Ighoroje (Dr)+
University Of Benin, Benin City 

KEY WORDS   :  FEMALE, ENROLLMENT, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY 
 
ABSTRACT 

Awareness of Information Technology (IT) among Nigerian girls and women is very
minimal. This is a direct effect of the basic problem of gender stereotyping in science,
mathematics and technology based learning that exists. Most young girls do not realise
their potentials in science, mathematics and technology early due to lack of proper
guidance, counselling and exposure to science, mathematics and technology training. The
Nigerian girl or woman is further handicapped by a stereotyped docile general attitude
towards so called Omasculine fieldsO. Although there is an overall lack of participation
of IT related careers in Nigeria as a result of existing complex peculiarities, some
examples of which are poor management, culture, poverty, etc., girls/women are most
disadvantaged. 

This paper will look into the enrollment of females in IT and related career training in
Nigeria. 

INTRODUCTION 

Nigeria as a developing country is generally lagging behind in Information Technology
(IT) and IT-related technology. There is very little understanding of IT which most often
is erroneously misrepresented as mass communication, that is, an act of information
dissemination through journalism, advertising etc. IT awareness in general is very
minimal as a result of variety of reasons, some of which are cultural.  The majority are
due to governmental policies that hinder or fail to promote IT training or utilisation.  For
a country like Nigeria, that is mainly under governmental control this means that IT
awareness level will be greatly insignificant. Women are further handicapped under this
dispensation, as there is a general gender imbalance in science, technology, engineering
and mathematics training. A lot of reasons have been offered for this imblanace, a major
one being the assumed intellectual inferiority of women. Of course this is not sobecause
we are all aware now that there is necessarily no biological superiority in intellect
between men and women, rather what is present is the gender stereotyping which has
been imposed by society and which has geared career seeking young girls away from
taking up science, technology and mathematic related subjects. Several deterimental
socio-cultural practices and taboos have further prevented girls from seeking meaningful
educational, vocational or societal status, thus the number of females in technological,
engineering, mathematical or scientific fields si quite low.  Very few girls have venturned
into IT and IT related careers, this number being comparably much lower than the overall
observed trend in participation levels in other areas of technology. Various reasons
account for this, such as the lack of awareness of the existence of IT, the lack of definite
governmental policies towards IT training and utilization, detrimental unwritten
(insensitive) governmental policies that disallow even the few IT sensitized females from
going into IT and related careers and stereotyping of IT as masculine. In addition there
are socio cultural taboos and norms about female OmasculinityÍ that scares even the
most competent female from taking up IT and IT related careers. Lack of resources and
mismanagement of even the few available ones, also contribute greatly to the, low level
of IT training obtained. 

IT AND RELATED CAREER TRAINING CENTRES

As a direct consequence of the lack of adequate governmental policies towards IT there
are very few training centres for IT. Nigeria has well over thirty universities and several
polytechnics and colleges of education etc. but so far none particularly offers IT as a
course. There are only two centres that offer IT and IT related career trainings, these are :

(1) Nigeria Telecommunications (NITEL) Engineering/Technical      Training Centre,
Oshodi and 

(2)  NITEL Management Training Centre, Kano

The former which is situated at the southern part of the country is responsible for the
training of technologists and technicians while the latter is responsible for the training of
middle management level personnel and is situated at the northern part of the country.
The Engineering and Technical training centre is comprised of five Schools, these are
Schools of : 

(a)  Information Technology and Commercials 
(b)  Power Engineering and maintenance
(c)  Transmission
(d)  Telegraphy (Telex) and 
(e)  External line plants.

The minimum required entry qualifications for training to the level of a technician is
OÍlevel attempted or government level four. The course lasts a period of nine months,
the minimum requirement for a technologist is four credits which must include physics
and mathematics, the training period lasting between three to four years. There is
however an insignificant number of privately owned centres, where IT and IT related
careers are grossly inadequately taught and which are often disproportionately
expensive in terms of resources required per student. 

FEMALE ENROLLMENT INTO IT RELATED CAREERS 

The number of students enrolment for IT and IT related courses at the NITEL engineering
and technical training centre was a direct reflection of the number graduating. From
statistics obtained from, the school for the period between 1981 and 1987 the
percentage of graduating females technologists never rose above 4%. In 1981 the
percentage of female graduates was 1.3%, between 1982 and 1984 there were no new
graduants because the courses were being regarded, in 1985 it was 1.5% in; 1986 2.7%
rising slightly to 3.9% in 1987 (Table 1). Significantly however over 98% of these females
graduates are from the School of IT and commercials while only about 2% graduated
from the four other schools viz; Power Engineering and maintenance, Transmission,
Telegraph and External line plants. Almost all 98% of these females opted strictly for
the commerical training. No females trained as technicians in all departments. Currently,
due to management policies mostly emanating from governmental sources, since NITEL
is mostly government controlled, the training of technicians and technologists have been
phased out, rather short term training programmes ranging between 1 week to 9 months
have been adopted. 

TABLE 1

Table shows year of graduation, % female graduants between 1981 and 1987 of the
NITEL Engineering and Technical Training Centre Oshodi Nigeria.
Yr.of graduation  Total No.of students  No.of Females %of females 

 
1981                     458                 6         1.3
1982                     *                   *         *
1983                     *                   *         *
1984                     *                   *         *
1985                     396                 6         1.5
1986                     403                11         2.7
1987                      51                  2        3.9
 
*No new graduants because course was regarded.

In order to ascertain reasons for the seemingly poor participation levels of females in
ITand IT related careers 100 males and 100 females were interviewed orally and by
administration of questionnaires. The questions were intended to highlight the reasons
they felt were responsible for the observed trend. Interestingly only 40% of the males
interviewed had some knowledge of IT and IT related careers. All 40% gave sexist
reasons for why females hardly participate in IT and related careers. None mentioned
any influence of Government Policies etc. Some reasons given by the men were that IT
and IT related careers were :

(1)  Unsuitable for the female personality
(2)  Too strenuous for females 
(3)Involved absolute dedication, perseverance and consistency, attributes they
believe women lacked.About 2% of those females questioned knew anything
about IT, and when told what IT was, gave similar reasons as their male
counterpart. The major other reasons given by the females other than those stated
above by the males was that IT over exposes girls to Western style living, limiting
their chances of marriage. Marriage is considered very important in a girlÕs life
and any girl who appears to be too civilized or world-wise will attract very few
suitors or none at all. No man wants a wife who is Òworld wiseÓ. 

DISCUSSIONS 

The chauvinistic and sexist reasons coming from the men is not surprising because
typically Nigeria society is patriarchal and both men and women have been made to
accept their roles without reasoning or questioning. The women especially have been
psychologically made to accept male superiority. The culture promotes male dominance,
superiority and power, by imposing a lot of taboos on females powerless enough not to
dare question the basis for such taboos. There are many myths and traditions that
remain unchallenged, most especially by females for fear of the unknown and consequent
repercussions. Situations are just accepted as they are. Even the most educated and
exposed Nigeria woman easily accepts this status quo leaving only the very few radical
ones (literate and illiterate) to venture to air contrary views and opinions.

IT is restricted more or less to the Urban Centres the majority of the population cannot
even acquire basic level of familiarity with high technology equipment.

Those in the rural areas are in the worst position. For the few exposed, the females are
less likely to be encouraged into showing any interest in IT or related careers, primarily
because of the socio cultural expectations already mentioned above.  There has been
gender stereotyping right from the inception of IT when early African technologies
designed to overcome limitations of the spoken word, for example, beating of the jungle
drums, making of smoke signals, cave drawings etc. were first imbibed. Participants in
these areas were strictly the prerogative of the menfolk, simply because the females were
regarded as the weaker sex whose roles in the society are those of child-rearing and
house keeping and are thus not allowed to participate in these OstrenousO tasks. An
incursion of females therefore into these areas is seen as gross insorbodination and
usurpation of the masculine power and does attract stiff penelties. Against such
traditional backgrounds it is understandable why girls are reluctant in daring to enter a
OmasculineO field. 

All the basic religions practised in Nigeria viz. Islam, Christianity and African
tranditional religions (which have contributed more in formulating current socio cultural
practices) teach women to be totally submissive to their menfolk. A lot of the myths and
taboos emanate from the African traditional religion. For example, a menstruating
women is not allowed (even today!!!) to enter certain houses, or parts of houses to
certain areas in some villages. She is not allowed to touch and cook food for her
husband or religous leader. A women is expected to cover her head and face in some
cases to enter certain places or be seen in public, while a widow is made to undergo very
painful rituals in some communities on the death of her husband. All these types of
practices have subdued women to such an extent that they have refused progressive
changes and challenges. They are afraid of possible repercussions for venturing to effect
a change in the status quo. They are not willing to experiment at changes even if the idea
occurs to them. Thus they maintain a docile attitude towards any change. Few women
will be willing to go into any field or area designated as OmasculineO  despite thier
capabilities and acquired knowledge primarly  because they do not want to be
stigmatised. They actually  believe it. Science maths and technology have been tyified as
OmasculineO more especially natural science like physics and maths. It is therefore not
surprising that very few girls  are found in IT and related careers since maths and
physics from some of the basic prerequisities. The inclusion of maths and physics as
prerequisties therefore also account for the low female participation in IT related
training. Inadvertently the society has its own way of pushing  females away from these
so called OmasculineOfields.

      There is also the power of the Gradle. The typical Nigeria Society places more
importance on the male child. A male child would be educated in preference to a female
child in situations where there are limited resources. Where both are educated, carrere
choices are made for them not necessarirly based on their capabilities but along the line
of gender oriented choices. Parents are loathe to see their daughters labelled
OmasculineO because of its accompaying social  stigma whish renders them ineligible for
marriage.  A girl could also deliberately shun OmasculineO careers because of these
erroneous beliefs and to avoid being stigmatized. A woman with six girls will feel very
insecure (and rightly so because of discriminations sheÍs bound to go through) in her
marriage simply because she has no male child!!! In his quest for a male child her
husband could take on several other women as concubines or as wives (a situation that
is easily accepted in the typical Nigerian society) thereby causing more social problems.
Her girls may be neglected by their father who does not believe in their potential, leaving
them at the mercy of their already oppressed mother. They would probably loose out on
educational opportunities and be given our early in marriage or at best encouraged to
take on careers that are OfeminineO and which will enhance their chances of marrying a
suitable man. 
      
      Marriage is considered the most important thing in the life of a typical Nigerian girl.
No matter what her capabilities or achievements are, for example, she may have a string
of Ph.Ds but the question that would be asked after her is ÒIs she married?Ó. The
answer to that question will determine the respect she will command from the society. 
She is ridiculed and abused if the answer is no, even by less competent and less
intellectually endowed male and even in most cases married female counterparts!!! More
respect is accorded married females no matter their level of education and exposure.
These traditional ideas are so deeply rooted even amongst the most liberal, most
exposed, highly educated and intellectual females to such an extent that sometimes the
prime hindrance to taking up Òmasculine careersÓ are the women themselves !! They
have been psychologically subdued into accepting the male superiority concept and even
with early exposure to good career counseling or to the so called OmasculineO career
prospects they would deliberately shy away from these ÒmasculineÓ fields considered
not conducive to the expected norms of the society. They develop a phobia for female
ÒmasculinityÓ. A girl who therefore ventures into a ÒmasculineÓ career runs the risk of
repelling eligible bachelors for marriage. There is no room for competition or equality, the
woman must be subordinate to the man!!  They are more or less backmailed into seeking
Ònon masculine careersÓ. In the event of a girl in a masculine field getting married, she
would deliberately suppress her career growth so that she will always be seen to be
subordinate and her marriage would be protected. 
      
      Unwrittden policies of discouraging girls with adequate exposure and basic
qualifications in these Òmasculine areasÓ are other problems facing young career seeking
girls particularly as mostly males are involved with policy making and admission
procedures. For example, statistics show very few female registrars in Nigeria who
oversee admissions of students into the various institutions. The typical Nigerian man is
chauvinistic. He would rather encourage a male into taking up such careers simply
because  in his views no matter what capabilities a girl may have in these fields, she
should end up in a manÕs bedroom and kitchen, where she belongs. 
      
      
RECOMMENDATIONS TO IMPROVE FEMALE PARTICIPATION IN IT AND
RELATED CAREERS 
      
      It is hoped that in order to improve the number of females in IT and related careers
the government should formulate definite policies to encourage girls into taking up IT
and related careers. For example :
      
      (1) It should provide more training centres for IT  and related careers training
      (2) It should create incentives like bursaries and scholarships to girls to  stimulate
their interest in IT and related careers.
      (3)It should embark on enlightenment campaigns to increase IT awareness levels 
      (4)  It should provide good career guidance and counselling           
  	(5)Parents especially mothers should be educated about IT with to exposing their girls
early to IT and related careers.
      
      It will be difficult to change the preconceptions in traditional Nigerian society about
female ÒmasculinityÓ or the male superiority, but attempts can be made, firstly to
OdebriefÍ females about traditional beliefs and roles, they are accustomed to and
secondly to make them realise that they are not intellectually inferior to men and have
the full ability to succeed in any field of endeavour.
      
      These latter interventions can be achieved by women organisations, such as GASAT,
playing significant role. Activities such as workshops and seminars could be useful
vehicles for achieving the desired goals. 

REFERENCES
      
1. Abdulahi Shuaibu, The NITEL Takes Telecommunications to Rural Nigeria Punch
December 17th 1993
2.  K. Behan and D. Holmes (2nd Edition), Understanding Information Technology,
Prentice-Hall Australia, 1990.  
3.   Chinwenzu, Anatomy of Women Power 1990 Pero Press.
4.   Chivers, Geoff, Gender Issues : Technology Guidelines for Action, WITECUETP
Sheffield 1993
5.   NITEL, Telecommunications Training Programmes Lagos 1993. 


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
      We would like to thank Nitel Training Centre Oshodi for their cooperation in
providing us with the necessary information and data to enable us to complete this
project.