EDUCATION AND GENDERED ROLES IN POST- ADJUSTMENT IGBO SOCIETY M.M. Duruji, D. Azuh, F. Oviasogie, O. Ajayi Covenant University (NIGERIA) Abstract The impact of Igbo lost the 1967-70 making Biafra-Nigeria war was of collective punishment of the Igbo through the policy of marginalization and exclusion. This strategy of disempowerment imposed a heavy price on the Igbo attitude to education. The frustrations of the educated Igbo males to find accommodation in the formal sector of Nigerian economy pushed them into the informal sector for survival and social mobility. For Igbo men, investment in education was seen as a waste leaving it for female folks. But post-adjustment neo-liberalization of the Nigerian economy and the consequent retreat of the state altered the dynamics that created a level playing field for job competition, thus creating room for the empowerment of Igbo women by the virtue of their educational attainment. The paper examines these changing dynamics of gender roles of Igbo society arising from these changes in the structure of Nigerian economy. It employed a multiple method of data collection including documented materials and surveys which was analyzed using descriptive analysis to arrive at the finding that changes in gendered access to education among the Igbo society has altered the traditional Igbo gendered role. Keywords: Education, Gendered Roles, Structural Adjustment, Igbo Society, Nigeria. 1 INTRODUCTION The predicament of the post-war Igbo society is reflecting a social dissonance in gender roles reversal stemming from effects of losing the war. The Igbo had fought a secessionist war from 1967-70 of which they were defeated with their dream of an independent ‘Biafran state’ turning into an illusion. A well known aftermath of the rebellion was the policy of marginalization that earmarked the Igbo as target for exclusion from the formal sector of the Nigerian economy as strategy of disempowerment. The implication of these was denial of economic infrastructure in the Igbo area and particular difficulty for educated Igbo males to find accommodation in the formal sector of the Nigerian economy. As a result, most Igbo males saw the informal sector as an avenue and only way for survival creating the impression that investment in education amounted to a waste. This informal sector of the economy which Igbo males has found solace in thrives in centre of commerce most of which are located outside of Igbo land. The migration of Igbo males in drove in pursuit of informal economic activity has created a vacuum in the cultural sphere and the role of women therein and secondly the attitude of Igbo men to education since the end of the war affected enrollment to overwhelming advantage of the female gender whose probability of experiencing discrimination due to ethnic origin is lower compared to the male gender. The implication is the empowerment of women by the virtue of their educational attainment and labour mobility, bringing about increasing roles in the socio-political environment and the traditional family setting, thus threatening the patriarchal Igbo society. Using qualitative data sourced from focus group discussion and documented materials, the paper examines these changing dynamics and situates the analysis on the assumption that gender roles are constructed, and is crystallized in the psyche of the people by the process of socialization which creates a problem of adjustment occasioned by social dynamics. 2 THE CONCEPT OF GENDER Gender is a social phenomenon that defines the roles played by the male and female within each individual society (Oyekanmi 2004). Each individual sex has specific roles to perform as well as a socially determined ways of awarding merit to these roles. It is from this backdrop that Mason (1984) noted that gender the concept of gender is concerned with the status of women in comparison with men. However in most Nigerian societies including the Igbo society, the practice over the years tends to place the male child above the female counterpart (Oyekanmi 2004). Proceedings of EDULEARN14 Conference 7th-9th July 2014, Barcelona, Spain ISBN: 978-84-617-0557-3 5054