Conscious Inclusion of Women in Informal Policing
The notion that women are fragile, weak and incapable of handling certain situation outside of domestic chores seems to have dominated the mindset of not only the men folk but women as well. The philosophy behind the introduction of informal policing is that security should be the business of everyone irrespective of gender. However, women seem not be actively involved in the informal police in Nigeria. The earlier held notion of women being weaker vessel seems to underscore the reason for total exclusion of women in the security outfit in spite of their population strength. The study therefore investigated the exclusion of women in the information policing and its implication on women in Southeast, Nigeria. The study adopted mixed research method. The population of the study was3296735 women, out of which, 400 women were selected as the sample size. Multistage sampling procedure was adopted for the study. Questionnaire and in-depth interview were the instruments for data collection. It was found that women believe that they are of no value to the informal policing One of the findings of the study was that women see their involvement in informal policing system as inappropriate because of their strong attachment to domestic chores. Again, It was also found that the men capitalize on weakness of women and demand for gratifications; including sex before justice could be obtained. It was recommended that there should no gender disparity in the membership of the vigilante group in South-East, Nigeria. More so, people to discard their mindset about security being an exclusive reserve of the men.