590 Shaye S. Al-Shaye Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 49, Number 3, November 2009 Psacharopoulos, G. (2000). ‘Economics of education a la Euro’, European Journal of Education,35: 81–95. Psacharopoulos, G. (2006). ‘The value of investment in education: theory, evidence and policy’, paper presented at the Symposium on Funding of Public Schools: The Economic and Social Value of Adequate Funding, University of Chicago Club, Chicago. Purcell, K. & Pitcher, J. (1996). Great expectations: the new diversity of graduate skills and aspirations, Manchester, England: Manchester University, Higher Education Careers Services Unit. Quiggin, J. (1999). ‘Human capital theory and education policy in Australia’, The Australian Economic Review, 32(2): 130–144. Schultz, T.W. (1963). The economic value of education, New York: Columbia University Press. The Academy of Arabic Language (2006). Alm’lumatiyya: Attagrir anniha’e Participation of elderly women in community wa tawsiyat limu’tamr allugha’ al’arbiyya fi asr ilma’lumatiyya [Informatics: a final report and recommendations for the Arabic language welfare activities in Akinyele local government, in the era of informatics], Damascus: author. Oyo State, Nigeria The Arab League Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (2008). Tanmeyat alqowa albasharya fee alwatan alarabi: Alkuwait [Human Stella O. Odebode development on the Middle East: Kuwait]. Tunis: author. Department of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development Williams, G. (2001). Economic benefits of higher education: a short review University of Ibadan, Nigeria of literature, London: Institute of Education, Center for Higher Education Studies. Woodhall, M. (1998). ‘Human capital concept’, in Halsey, A., Lauder, H., This paper assessed the participation of elderly women in Brown, P. & Wells, A. (eds.), Education, culture, economy, and society, community welfare activities in Oyo State, Nigeria. Simple random Oxford: Oxford University Press: 120–200. sampling technique was used to select 120 elderly women from six Yuan, F. (2008). ‘Individual innovation in the workplace: the role of out of the twelve political wards in the study area. Both qualitative performance and image outcome beliefs’, doctoral dissertation AAT and quantitative methods of data collection were used to elicit 3321823, Texas: Texas A&M University. information from the respondents. A focus group discussion was Contact details conducted with the elderly women groups, in each of the six wards. Dr. Shaye S. Al-Shaye Frequency counts and percentages were used to summarise the data, Department of Curriculum and Instruction while chi-square and the multinomial logit regression model were College of Education also used to analyse the data. There were significant relationships Kuwait University 2009 between the level of participation of rural elderly women in Email: [email protected] community welfare activities and age (X2 = 81.50, P = 0.05), marital status(X2 = 3.84, P = 0.05), educational status (X2 =196.07, P = 0.05), religion (X2 = 8.53, P = 0.05) and place of origin (X2 = 51.53, P = 0.05). 592 Stella O. Odebode Community welfare activities in Akinyele local government, Oyo State, Nigeria 593 The study concludes that rural elderly women participate in various participation of elderly women in community welfare activities with a community welfare activities such as care of children, giving of view to providing answers to the following questions: advice on child care, maternal care, family planning, family health, mediation and resolution of conflicts, assistance with domestic • What are the selected socio-economic characteristics of elderly chores, family nutrition, children education on basic skills and good women in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State? morals. It is therefore recommended that rural elderly women • What is the level of participation of elderly women in community should be involved in rural development issues since they have a welfare activities in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State? wealth of knowledge on various community welfare issues. • What are the income-generating activities of elderly women in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State? Introduction Objectives of the study The United Nations Decade for Women (1976–1985) legitimised The main objective of this study was to determine the level of women’s status and contributed immensely to the awareness of their participation of elderly women in community welfare activities in the major contributions in communities (Odebode & Oladeji 2001). Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. The specific objectives Many studies have also significantly shown that women have been the were to: unrecognised cornerstones of many rural economies, especially those • examine the selected socio-economic characteristics of elderly of the developing countries (Yahaya 2002). Besides their work on women in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State farms, women are involved in various biological, social, cultural and • determine the level of participation of elderly women in economic activities that contribute significantly to the well-being of community welfare activities in Akinyele Local Government Area their households and communities, including the aged. of Oyo State Women constitute more than 60% of the adult population resident • examine the income-generating activities of elderly women in in the rural areas of Nigeria (Adeyeye 1986). This population of Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. women is too large to be ignored, because all through their lives they Hypotheses of the study are involved in many activities that provide medical, social, food, economic and cultural needs of their households. Elderly women The main hypotheses of this study are listed below: contribute significantly to nation-building and economic growth • There is no significant relationship between the selected socio- through their roles in agricultural production, housekeeping, child economic characteristics of elderly women and their level of welfare services and community welfare activities. These roles need participation in community welfare activities in the Akinyele Local to be documented so that development planners can use elderly Government Area of Oyo State. women as change agents in efforts to improve the living conditions • There is no significant relationship between the income-generating in rural communities, hence, achieving sustainable welfare in rural activities of elderly women and their level of participation in communities. It is on this basis that this study investigated the rural community welfare activities in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State. 594 Stella O. Odebode Community welfare activities in Akinyele local government, Oyo State, Nigeria 595 Related literature values and the institution of wisdom (Ajala 2006). Due to the respect accorded them by other household members, they influence family Activities of elderly women in rural households in Nigeria decision-making. They contribute to communal development efforts In developing countries within Africa, Asia and Latin America, family by airing their views at community meetings, contributing financially members generally expect elderly women to play multi-faceted roles to projects and being responsible for the well-being of younger based on their experiences. They have a sense of moral obligation to women and children. assume such roles. Rural elderly women play an important role in family decision-making. This is as a result of age and experience in Elderly women build and strengthen communities, stabilise the future various aspects of family life. Aubel et al. (2004) revealed the multi- of the younger generation and are excellent sources of providing faceted functions of elderly women at the household level. These cultural identity, often assuming responsibility for the children within include assistance with domestic or household chores, education and their communities. They pass on historical values and understand the socialisation of women of reproductive age and children, advising community and relevant components of child and family welfare. If younger generations, mediation and conflict- resolution. They also community welfare is to be promoted, roles of elderly women should supervise and care for children, animals and household items and not be disregarded. manage all family health problems. However, with increasing age, rural women often have increased market activities and increased Methodology agricultural labour (including control over land inherited from Area of study their husbands) (www.ncsu.extension.org 2006). These activities The study was carried out in Oyo State (population of 3.45 million in contribute significantly to the well-being of families and communities. 1991, National Population Census 1991), specifically in the Akinyele Participation of elderly women in community welfare activities in Nigeria local government area which covers a total land area of 575 square kilometers with twelve political wards. Of the population in Akinyele, In Nigeria, elderly women and other family members in the 90% is involved in agriculture as a primary source of income. Some of community constantly interact with children from their first days the cultivated crops are oil palm, timber, maize, cassava and plantain. of life. This interaction has been reported as being a reason for African infants being more precocious than European children Six out of the twelve political wards were randomly selected