The Loss of Female Personality andSelf-identity in Community Development Activity: A Theory-Practice Gap in Nigeria

Drawing upon research undertaken with community development practitioners in the North Central of Nigeria, this article argues that feminist community development processes have been undermined by the application of policy initiatives which were designed to achieve equality and fairness. The application of targeted and technically neutral systems has resulted in a managerialist approach to community development which has privileged masculinist practices and marginalized the intersubjective, consciousness-raising practices which are central to feminism. The consequence is that the broader emancipatory principles of community development practice have been distorted within a policy discourse of equality