Feminist Critique of Policy: Nigeria's National Youth Policy

FEMINIST CRITIQUE OF A POLICY: NIGERIA'S NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY
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Gender and Policy Development
The United Nations Economic Council report (2007) indicated that gender had become a critical issue in the governance of both local governments and international communities' political, social, and economic aspects. Previously, traditional society had ignored the question of gender equality, balance, and inclusion. However, recent studies have undisputedly proven that the two aspects are a solution to a range of global governance and developmental issues, such as eradicating poverty, financial stability, and sustainable economic development (True, 2016). Gender is a socially constructed term that refers to the political, cultural, social, and economic characteristics and opportunities linked to being male or female (Keating et al., 2010). Gender equality is attained when men and women of all ages, races, religions, and sexual orientations have equal opportunities, rights, and conditions that aid them in contributing to the development of a society or a nation.
In policy development, gender equality is significant, especially in developing countries (Mohammed, 2015). For a long time, men have been regarded as the superior gender tasked with making decisions. Hence, most rules, principles, laws, and policies implemented in countries and organizations have always favored them. The generalization of these policies and regulations to men and women has resulted in many social, political, and economic issues, with women being the most affected. The rise of feminism saw the avocation of the rights of women and girls and their inclusion in important societal and national policy development and implementation processes. This study evaluates Nigeria's National Youth Policy from a feminist perspective. The paper is divided into various sections. It begins by giving a brief overview of the policy and its participatory process.
The second section will discuss the definition and scope of gender as reflected in the policy. This will be followed by data gaps in the policy, the concept of equality and equity in the policy, and if the policy has implemented the aspect of intersectionality, among other aspects.
Policy Overview
Nigeria's National Youth Policy is a pledge emphasizing the support of its youth’s development. It is a step toward putting the participation and efforts of the youth in the country's growth. The policy aims at mainstreaming the concerns of the youth into national development efforts. Its vision is to provide Nigeria's youth, regardless of background, with a safe environment and equal opportunities to fully realize their aspirations and dreams, contributing to the nation's development. The first National Youth Policy in Nigeria was implemented in 1981. It was then reviewed in 1989 during the drafting of a Social Development Policy. In the subsequent years, the youth policy has undergone several changes due to the shifts in the nation's social-political environment and the economy. These modifications rendered some policies ineffective and discriminatory.
The 2019 policy is an update of the 2009 policy, which had to accommodate new and emerging realities affecting young people in Nigeria, as well as the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. More importantly, the policy addresses the challenges and limitations encountered in formulating and implementing the previous (2009) policy. These limitations included inadequate funding, monitoring, analysis of the policy implementation, and limited youth involvement in the advocacy of the policy and its execution.
Additionally, this policy considers all the aspects necessary to improve coordination between it and various sectors that impact the youth in Nigeria while simultaneously capturing the new and emerging youth concerns and raising accountability standards for the mentioned population's outcomes. The 2019 National Youth Policy consists of five strategic thrusts, ten thematic areas, and twenty-one objectives, all utilizing an evidence-based approach.
It chronologically defines youth as all persons, 18 to 35 years old, comprising males and females in Nigeria and Diaspora. Being the seventh most populous country on earth, Nigeria had a population of 182 million as of 2015. The 2009 youth policy utilized the 2006 census data, where youths were 50 million (35.6%), with females being 37.9% and males being 33.4%. As of 2012, the female population between 18 and 35 years was 52.8%. The 2019 policy is elaborate, proactive, and inclusively created to tackle existing and emerging issues that affect the youth and hinder their efforts and participation in Nigeria's development. Its growth process has been consultative and interactive as it involved youth-led organizations, the youths themselves, and various stakeholders whose decisions and actions directly or indirectly impact the youth. Such stakeholders comprise Department Agencies and Ministries of the state, community organizations, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations.
Other national policies integrated into the development of Nigeria's National Youth Policy include those of the Health and Department of Adolescents and Young People, Population for Sustainable Development, and those on gender, education, and health, among others. One of the key areas discussed in the policy entails creating a productive workforce and a sustainable economic youth involvement via skill development, capacity building, education, entrepreneurship, and job creation. Other areas comprise creating a health-promoting lifestyle among the youth, ensuring inclusiveness and equitable participation and opportunities for all young people, creating a protective and promotive environment for the development of the youth, and effective collaboration with relevant stakeholders that advocate for the inclusion and support of the youth in the nation's development.
Feminism Perspective of the Policy
Definition and Scope of Gender in the Policy Document
As discussed earlier, gender comprises the traits and opportunities linked being male or female. A policy that addresses gender includes both men and women in the development of the policy document. It must assess the aspects facing both genders and separately addresses each issue. Nigeria's National Youth Policy is gender inclusive. It has generalized the concept of gender, except for a few segments where a distinction between males and females is indicated. The generalization is attributed to the term 'youth,' which predominated the whole policy document.
A 2014 United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) report indicated that the United Nations defines youth as young persons aged between 15-24, though this age bracket is not universal. Theoretically, the words 'person' or 'people' are used as gender-neutral terms. They refer to an individual or a group of individuals without implying femaleness or maleness. Therefore, the term 'youth' is gender-neutral. It implies both young men and women aged 18 to 35, as per National Youth Policy.
However, despite the gender-neutrality of the term 'people' or 'persons,' various studies have concluded that it is biased. A ScienceDaily report indicated that most people prioritize men over women even when using gender-neutral words. Using artificial intelligence algorithms to assess the context of over 630 billion words from a non-profit repository, Common Crawl, the New York University researchers concluded that 'people' is mostly used to refer to men and not both genders. Such a biased illustration of gender-neutral terms indicates inequalities and exclusion of females from various aspects of society.
For instance, in Nigeria's youth policy, the linking of the term 'youth' to refer to 'men' results in a gender gap. It then implies that the nation needs to prioritize the efforts of young men only as these significantly influence economic, social, and political development more than their counterparts and that supporting females is a waste of time and resources.
Although the term youth or young people is used to refer to either male or female, gender can also be conceptualized in binary terms, either men or women. The National Youth Policy is inclusive because it seeks to ensure that "Nigeria's young men and women have realized their full potential irrespective of their ethnic, religious, and socio-cultural background" (Pg. 9). The terms "both young men and women" have been used severally throughout the document (on pages 22, 33, 36, and 37 among others). Therefore, it is a clear indication that youth is used to refer to young men and women within Nigeria. A good policy framework or document should reflect the mainstreaming of gender in developing a society or a nation.
Daly (2005) defines the gender mainstreaming approach as the institutionalized equality and inclusion of gender-sensitive norms and practices in public policy environments, processes, and structures. Similarly, March et al. (1999) define 'mainstreaming' gender as integrating gender concerns into all aspects of a country or organization's procedures, priorities, and policies. Therefore, for a policy document to have mainstreamed gender, it must integrate gender issues and concerns in the decision-making process.
Nigeria's National Youth Policy clearly indicates mainstreaming gender into national development programs. Generally, it illustrates the intention of the government to integrate its young men and women i...