EVALUATING WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT INITIATIVES FOR FAMILY SUSTAINABILITY IN OBIO/AKPOR, RIVERS STATE

Abstract

Urbanization is characterized by the alteration of the traditional setting of a particular geographical cum socio-economic arrangement of a people. Apart from the physical and, in most cases, permanent structural disruption to the people’s socio-cultural lives, the economy is also usually depleted. The implication is when families’ traditional means of survival/livelihood are uprooted due the demands of rapid urbanization, the lives and overall wellbeing of members of the family and even younger generations are subjected to danger; hence the need for strategies to address the salient issues associated with urbanization. This paper is a survey that examined the viability of women empowerment for family sustainability in the midst of the rapid urbanization process in Obio-Akpor local government area of Rivers state which has disrupted the socio-economic progress of the people and placed families on the path of social and economic malaise. It evaluates strategies to empower family members for sustainability. It shall address issues as role of women, education and family moral values in the socio-economic sustainability of the family in the midst of this urbanization which is a reality in the society