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It is unknown how Yoruba women textile traders organize their textile enterprises, despite the vagaries of informal economy. However, in an informal economy, trade in every commodity has its own social organizational structures and politics. Scholars have argued that commodity needs to be separately studied so to detangle the various structures and politics associated with each commodity so that behavioural patterns that lead to entrepreneurial development can be determined. The focus of this paper therefore is to examine the organizational strategies of Yoruba women textile traders. The paper hinges on social action theory by Max Weber. The research design is qualitative in nature. Eight focus group discussions were conducted among the women respondents; Forty (40) in depth- Interview, and six case- studies were conducted. The findings reveals that in social organization of textile trading, several unique methods were adopted such as; placing of exclusive rights on some textile materials, innovation and imitation of textile materials for continuous trading of textile materials. In promotion of textile materials, the finding reveals that economic and non-economic activities were utilized to promote sales. While some classical tenets of entrepreneurship, were adopted by the women in recording the transactions. The paper recommends innovative attitude, importance of role mentors, building of social Capital among other traders in the market, and teaching of record keeping of transaction. All these are essential tools for women entrepreneurship development in informal economy.

The book deals with the theme of African market women and economic power. African market women's participation in trade is analysed, the struggle and competition between men and women over certain market items, the nature of resources available to them, the cultural, social and economic barriers, the method by which African women exploit or manipulate economic, social and political opportunities, the impact of European imperialism on the status and position of women and the effects of postcolonial structural adjustment programs, especially as they impinge on women's livelihood. (DÜI-Sch)

Contemporary studies have revealed that Yoruba women, particularly Ijebu women, have contributed to the development of Yorubaland. Apart from the traditional roles of women in Yorubaland, Ijebu women have cut a niche for themselves in the age-grouping system. It is the intent of this study to estab­lish the contributions of Ijebu women to the upliftment of their society and indeed of the Ijebu nation. This study therefore reveals that women in regberegbe (age group) organizations have contributed immensely to the development of Ijebuland. Just as men in age groups have benefitted, the women's age groups have also enjoyed government patronage, support, and interest. This was demonstrated when the Ogun State government offered employment to some of the age group members. The involvement of these women has shown that Ijebu women are active in the development of Ijebuland through the age-group system and this has further debunked the erroneous public opinion that Ijebu women are party-goers and docile. On the contrary, they are hard-working, so­cial, nationalistic, and community-development oriented.

The study analyzes lay preventive health care for children in a provincial town in Southwestern Nigeria. Data were collected among 36 market women who had all raised children. This sample is a subset of a larger study on health care among low income women in Yoruba land. Both personal interviews and observations were used in the methodology. Within the Nigerian context, health care activities occur within a deteriorating economic environment and a pluralistic medical sector both of which have been on the decline since the mid- 1980s. The study found that women work hard to prevent illness among children, often using more than one medical system in child care. The consequences of declining medical and physical environments were analyzed. Local or indigenous drugs were reviewed. Finally, problems arising from the simultaneous use of several systems were discussed.

Through the modern history of the indigo-dyed textile adire, produced by the Yoruba in southwest Nigeria, this essay examines the relationship between the production of the textile, the gendered divisions of its production, the development of modernity, and the appropriation of textiles by artists working in Nigeria since the time of independence. The essay presents the argument that a close look at the role adire played in pre-independence decades will reveal that its women dyers were actively involved not only politically and socially in colonial resistance, but also as the producers of visual culture: they expressed themselves aesthetically through the textile pattern. Finally, the textile's intimate connection to the construction and preservation of memory in Nigerian society is considered as a motive for the appropriation of its pattern language by several of Nigeria's prominent modern and contemporary artists.

The present study embarked with a supposition that there are similarities (traditional, under-developed, agri-based) between the Punjabi and African cultures, so the gender ideology might have similar patterns, which can be verified through the analysis of oral genres of the respective cultures. From Africa, Nigerian (Yoruba) proverbs are selected to be studied in comparison with Punjabi proverbs, while taking insights from Feminist CDA (Lazar 2005). The study has examined how Punjabi and Yoruba proverbs mirror, produce and conserve gendered ideology and patriarchism. Punjabi proverbs are selected through purposive sampling from 'Our Proverbs' (Shahbaz 2005) and Yoruba examples (with English translations and interpretations) are elicited from a dictionary of Yoruba proverbs (Owomoyela 2005), as well as articles written about gender by native Yoruba researchers. The investigation has uncovered through thematic content analysis that the portrayal of women in both communities is primarily biased, face-threatening and nullifying. Both languages have presented womenfolk mainly as unreliable, insensible, loquacious, insincere, ungrateful, opportunist, materialistic and troublemaking. Men have been depicted for the most part as aggressive, rational, prevailing, and anxious to take risks. This analysis infers that in asymmetrically organised Punjabi and African (Yoruba) communities, proverbs are deliberately sustaining inequality.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- I INTRODUCTION -- 1 African Women Hoe Cultivators: Speculative Origins and Current Enigmas -- The Mystique Surrounding African Women Hoe Cultivators -- Adoption and Adaptation: Malleability of the Division of Labour under Hoe Agriculture -- Notes -- References -- II 'SISTERS OF THE SOIL': AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION IN AFRICAN HOE-BASED SOCIETIES -- 2 Women's Farming and Present Ethnography: Perspectives on a Nigerian Restudy -- Introduction -- Encounters with Evolutionism -- A Present Ethnography of Yoruba Women's Farming -- Conclusion: Present Ethnography with Multiple Temporal Frames -- Notes -- References -- 3 Down to Fundamentals: Women-centred Hearth-holds in Rural West Africa -- Introduction -- Poor-fit Category -- 'Households' in Rural West Africa -- Hearth-hold Defined -- Nested Hearth- holds in Household and Lineage Matrices -- Predicament of Virilocal Hearth-holds -- Hearth-hold Concept's Utility to Development Work -- Conclusion -- References -- 4 Myth of the African Family in the World of Development -- Introduction: From Modernization to African Modes of Production -- Myth-making: The Demographic Specificity of Africa -- Theoretical Basis of 'The African Family System' -- Conjugal Terms in Women's Farming -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- 5 Uses and Abuses of the Concept of 'Female-headed Households' in Research on Agrarian Transformation and Policy -- Emergence of the Concept -- Uses of the Concept -- Abuses of the Concept -- Challenges and New Directions -- References -- III MIXED BLESSINGS OF MOTHERHOOD: FERTILITY, SEXUALITY AND AGRARIAN LIVELIHOOD -- 6 Women's Workload and Reproductive Stress -- Introduction -- Women's Role in Agriculture -- Women's Reproductive Role.

SummaryThis was a hospital-based cross-sectional study of 224 randomly selected antenatal women receiving care at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria. The study aimed to seek the attitude and preferences of respondents about social support during childbirth and also identify variables that may influence their decisions. Seventy-five per cent of respondents desired companionship in labour. Approximately 86% preferred their husband as companion while 7% and 5% wanted their mother and siblings as support person respectively. Reasons for their desire for social support were emotional (80·2%), spiritual (17·9%), errands (8·6%) and physical activity (6·8%). Socio-demographic variables found to be statistically significant on logistic regression analysis for the desire of a companion in labour were nulliparity (OR 3·57, 95% CI 1·49–8·52), professionals (OR 3·11, 95% CI 1·22–7·94) and women of other ethnic groups besides Yoruba (OR 2·90, 95% CI 1·02–8·26), which is the predominant ethnic group in the study area. Only those with post-secondary education were found to want their husbands as doula (OR 2·96, 95% CI 1·08–8·11). More than half of the respondents wanted information about labour prior to their experience. It is important that Nigerian women are allowed the benefit of social support during childbirth, particularly as there is a lack of one-to-one nursing care and other critical services, including epidural analgesia in labour, at many of the health care facilities in Nigeria. Men could play a pivotal role in the process of introducing support in labour so as to improve the outcome for both the mother and her newborn.

This study was centred on the edible cola nuts (Cola acuminata and Cola nitida), often referred to as obi abata and gbanja (yoruba) in Abeokuta metropolis. The study examined economic impacts and various uses of the cola nut. Structured questionnaire with open and close questions was distributed to120 respondents in the study area. Markets were selected from three Local government areas namely Lafenwa, Kuto, Iberekodo and Ishiun at Owode Egba purposively. The markets are local markets where farm produce are being sold in the study area. Descriptive statistics, cost and return analysis was used to analyze the data obtained from the study. The result obtained shows that 88.33% of the respondents were female who engage in the trade, 52.50% were in age group above 45 years which was the largest and were Yoruba. 51.87% had no formal education and are mostly full-time sellers. The result also revealed that traditionally 81.67% uses the nut for wedding and 97.50% for dye. The cost analysis reveals the average profit for each market, at Ishiun ₦3 293.375, Lafenwa ₦8 702.83, Kuto ₦4 869.40, and Iberekodo ₦3 127.20 and the rate of return on investment were at Ishiun 33.24%, Lafenwa 35.96%, Kuto 33.17%, Iberekodo 26.54% , respectively. It shows that Lafenwa has the highest rate of returns on investment and profit. The result also showed that the mean value of profit and return on investment for all the market were ₦4 998.21 and 32.23% respectively, this was due to the level of organisation in transaction in the market. The result also reveals the market margin per market at Ishiun 24.95%, Lafenwa 26.45%, Kuto 24.95%, and Iberekodo 21.00% respectively with the mean margin for all the market at 24.33%. The major problem encountered in business was basically that of storage with insect infestation at 53.33% and heat 51.67% which reduces the value and invariably the price of the product. Hence, a good storage system is important to improve sales. Hence a good policy must be put in place for good storage system to improve quality during storage and enhance income of respondents.

Yorùbá culture of present-day Southwest Nigeria and Southeast Republic of Benin, has received much attention from academics over time. In part, this is due to the culturally ingrained female power that has existed and persisted over time in Yorùbáland. However, some scholars have argued against the gender structure generally accepted by scholars to be grounded in Yorùbáland. In particular, Oyeronke Oyewumi made a compelling, yet controversial argument in her book The Invention of Women: Making An African Sense of Western Gender Discourses (1997). Oyewumi asserts that scholars have imposed their Western bias in their research on the Yorùbá based on their own understanding of gender roles throughout history. Although Oyewumi makes many valid arguments in her volume, this study will expose weaknesses in her claim in regards to important gender distinctions that have existed in Yorùbáland over time, and in particular female power in the marketplace. By examining two Yorùbá concepts of female power, the deity Ajé and the concept of àjé, the culturally ingrained importance of female power will be made clear and contribute to the vast scholarship on related subjects. The goddess Ajé, as a deity of the marketplace, has received little attention in scholarship on the Yorùbá pantheon, yet she provides an example of the importance of womanhood in Yorùbá culture. The concept of àjé, on the other hand, is much better studied concept of female power in Yorùbáland. Àjé represents female power throughout many facets of Yorùbá life, including economic, domestic, religious, as well as political spheres. These expressions of culturally grounded female power within Yorùbáland are exemplary of the dynamic gender structure in Yorùbá culture. Contrary to what Oyewumi asserts, and contrary to many early Western feminists' accounts, Yorùbá women have been able to harness female power to their advantage throughout Yorùbáland over time.

This paper concentrates on a comparative study between Alu of the drama The Swamp Dwellers by Soyinka and the Feminist views of Beauvoir in The Second Sex while the areas of the drama so far explored and discussed are native narrative, political views, decline through modernization, moral-spiritual standpoint, family bonding and human-nature tie. In the drama, if the vital role played by Alu is construed, she appears as a woman figure of infinite capaciousness with her duties, responsibilities, feelings, commitments, rights and privileges in family and society. Alu succeeds because her human-centric Yoruba tradition gives support to her family-centric biology and psychology. But contrary to Alu, Feminist views disseminated by Beauvoir in The Second Sex embark on the estrangement of women from family and humanity. Thus, the paper seeks to unearth how Alu of Yoruba tradition harmonizes and unifies humanity through her role in family and society while Feminism of Beauvoir opposes them and wishes women to be separated. In this qualitative research of thematic analysis method, Family Systems Theory and Religious Humanism Theory were applied. By recommending for women the re-introduction of traditional human-centric life in family and society, this research may contribute to women's emancipation from misery.