Contribution of Some Identified Variables to Females’ Participation in Literacy Programme in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Women seem to be fewer in social and political activities in Nigeria; this could be a function of literacy level which seems to be lower among females than it is among their male counterparts. The purpose of this study therefore, was to investigate the contribution of some identified variables that could determine females’ participation in literacy programme for their overall development. Women in the Southwest Nigeria were the target population, four out of six states in Southwestern Nigeria were selected for the study and 2,400 females in basic literacy class were selected out of 6,535 learners through a simple random sampling procedure. Data were collected using “Literacy Assessment Scale (LAS)” (Adepoju, 2001) ;( r=0.72). The results showed that each of the seven identified variables: age, marital status, occupation, number of children per family, cultural demands, socio-economic status and locality (t=2.8, significance of 0.005, p<0.05; t=2.3 significance of 0.02, p<0.05; t=-0.08, significance of 0.93, p>0.05; t=-4.5,significance of 0.00, p<0.05; t=4.36, significance 0.00, p<0.05; t=48.0 significance of 0.00, p<0.05; t=6.0 significance of 0.00, p<0.05) contributed differentially and that occupation, one of the variables, did not contribute significantly. Socio-economic status with: (β=0.705, t=48.0, p<0.05) was the most important of all the variables. It was concluded that some factors would motivate females to participate in literacy programmes, it was therefore recommended that these identified variables(age, marital status, occupation, number of children per family, cultural demands, socio-economic status and locality) should be taken into consideration by planners and other stake holders when planning literacy programmes for females in any given community so that the target population might be able to participate maximally in the programmes to enhance the much needed development for the females and the community