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6 Gender Dimensions of the National Security and Human Security Problematic: Core Theoretical, Conceptual and Historical Issues Irene Omolola Adadevoh Introduction and Problem All men and women are created equal… yet the history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpation on the part of man toward woman. (Elizabeth Cady Stanton, July 1848). This part of the NWG research focuses on the conceptual clarification of the interfaces between gender and national security and the consequences of segregationist policies. It is based on the notion that the discrimination and restriction of women by a male-dominated culture is suggestive of the national insecurity faced by women. In the context of the gender dimensions of security, a theoretician, Alison (2004: 447) has put it succinctly that ‘the question of whose security is being discussed is important. Since security has traditionally been conceptualized in masculinized, military terms and women have been excluded’, then there is a need for a more intensive investigation of the context of women’s security. Alison (2004) does this analysis from an empirical perspective, drawing heavily on the situation in specific countries of interest. While the above approach is commendable, it requires some intensification and reinforcement, which we have imposed on the discourse on gender and security by seeking to delve into the vital conceptual, methodological and theoretical dimensions of gender security re-conceptualisation. This task is in keeping with our primary vocational philosophical methodology and its fruitful outcomes. Traditional concepts that feature in a putative discussion of women’s security include oppression and discrimination. According to Caprioli (2004: 412), ‘discrimination is a symptom of both the inequality and the structural violence that 120 Rethinking Security in Nigeria undermine women’s security’. The fact then is that such a situation can no longer be considered acceptable or even tolerable for the agents, victims and agencies of women’s oppression and insecurity. Women’s insecurity is a fact of life that cannot be underestimated. According to Goldstein (1999: 99), we must announce ‘repeatedly and in forceful terms that women in Civilization have been severely oppressed and particularly victimized’. This oppression and victimisation have brought about the general insecurity of women. The crisis of national insecurity can be inextricably linked to women’s stereotypical traditional roles, which like job descriptions define their membership in the community by requiring them to act in certain ways. With special reference to Africa, the situation of women is the more deplorable. To this extent , we cannot but agree with Uko (1996: 4-5), who insists that ‘traditionally the woman in Africa functions as a mother, wife and co-wife. Her psyche is affected by the impact of colonial domination as well as male chauvinism, polygamy, dependence and inferiority complex. She is usually contemplated in the sense of dominated, disadvantaged, exploited and excluded’. Given these realities, these roles entrench the expectations that others have of women within many social organisations in a given nation-state. The problem, as we conceive it, is, firstly, to determine the extent to which discourses on sexual identities and national security take into account the social behaviour of the sexes in the light of the maintenance of the status of masculinised securities. Secondly, and no less important, is to examine the conditions for the affirmation of security, justice and equity for women within a nation-state. The essay tackles these problems through the redefinition of stereotyping myths, and the evaluation of the changing dimensions of national segregationist policies. Thus the impetus for our work, as stated above, is justified again on the basis of the position of Daly (1996: 137) that ‘women who have perceived the reality of sexual oppression usually have exhausted themselves in breaking through to discovery of their own humanity, with little energy left for constructing their own interpretation of the universe’. We must admit also that although there have been recent expositions on the predicaments of women, as seen in efforts by the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR 2001) in the 2000 Annual Report on the Human Rights Situation in Nigeria, and the Three-day National Workshop on Gender Violence and Family Poverty for the southwest zone (July 2001) organised by the Special Adviser to the President on Women Affairs. These efforts have shown the near intractability of the phenomenon of the abject disempowerment, oppression and subordination of women. As things stand, few, if any, of these works have systematically opened up the discourse on the national security of women in a...

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