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Web 2.0 is defined as the second stage of development of the Internet, characterized especially by the change from static web pages to dynamic or user-generated content and the growth of social networking. A social network is usually created by a group of individuals who have a set of common interests and objectives. There are usually a set of network formulators followed by a broadcast to achieve the network membership. This advertising happens both in public and private groups depending upon the confidentiality of the network. Web 2.0 and the social networks are geared towards the easy access of information no matter the location, tribe, gender or nationality.
Social media is defined as the interaction among people in which information and ideas creation, sharing or exchanging takes place in virtual communities and networks, without any discrimination or bias, making it most reliable (and sometimes unreliable) source of getting and sharing genuine information, without any cost and without wasting any time. social media is therefore all about dialogue. Their impact, especially in light of some of the recent anti-government upheavals cannot be neglected.
The role of women in agriculture as an economic activity cannot be undervalued as they account for 49.6% of Nigeria population (NPC, 2007). Many people believe that the agricultural industry is mostly for men and are more concentrated in higher status, more remunerative contract farming, while women predominate as wage laborers in agro-industries. Also women workers are generally segregated in certain nodes of the chain (e.g. processing and packaging) that require relatively unskilled labor, reflecting cultural stereotypes on gender roles and abilities. FAO gender and food security statistics figures show 44.70% in 1950, 45.87% in 1970, 47.34% in 1990, 48.10% in 2000 (estimated) and 48.74% in 2010 (estimated) share of female labor force in total agricultural labor force. However, most do not realize the continuous increase of women in the agricultural industry (Kirk 2012). It is therefore important that as more men are exposed to web 2.0 and social media, women should not be left out to enhance agricultural development. In Nigeria, there are traditional roles for gender in various communities and the knowledge of these roles is very important gender equality is when men and women have equal right to have equal benefits and responsibility in the agricultural sector, without any bias or segregation.
Many people consider that the objective of gender equality has not been fully achieved, especially in non-Western countries. A highly contentious issue relating to gender equality is the role of women in religiously orientated societies. For example, the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam declared that women have equal dignity, but not equal rights, and this was accepted by many predominantly Muslim countries. In some Christian churches the practice of churching of women may still have elements of Ritual purification and the Ordination of women to the priesthood may be restricted or forbidden. Some Christians or Muslims believe in Complementarianism, a view that holds that men and women have different, but complementing roles. This view may be in opposition to the views and goals of gender equality. Gender refers not to male and female but to masculine and feminine, that is to qualities and characteristics that society ascribes to each sex. Gender equality is a state in which all people enjoy equal rights, opportunities and rewards, regardless of whether they are born female or male.
Getting the right policies is critical, but equally important are effective institutions and approaches to implement the policies, so for effective gender mainstreaming in policy making, we will need to create platforms for massive participation in policy development. The web 2.0 tools and applications will help in this direction. To get more people involve in this discursions in a more cost effective way there is the need to spread the knowledge of Web 2.0 to stakeholders at every level. This will help in faster roles analysis for gender in all cultures around Nigeria and identify comparative and competitive advantages of the traditional roles. This will help to distribute tasks and roles to gender along the commodity value chains for effect and increase productivity.
There is now widespread recognition of the importance of gender in development. This is reflected in the growing prominence of gender strategies for development institutions and their programs, the emergence of compelling approaches for gender mainstreaming, and the development of indicators for tracking performance. The agricultural research community has built on this progress to pursue increasingly more substantive approaches to gender as reflected most recently in the improved gender dimensions of the new CGIAR research programs.
Web 2.0 and social networks remains one of the effective ways in which gender inequality can be eliminated in the agricultural sector, and as such we recommend and advise all people to go and share their knowledge through it, so that in sharing they may be enriched on ways on how to improve on ways to practice agriculture.
Good job!
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