HOUSING STRESSORS, GENDER AND PHYSICAL WELL-BEING IN CITIES IN AFRICA: NIGERIA
Keywords:
Gender, Housing, Stressor, Urban planning, Ibadan, Nigeria
Abstract
The paper examined effects of housing stressors - housing attributes that could be stress-inducing which are high rent/cost, lack of space, housing discomfort, physical housing condition and dissatisfaction with housing - on the physical well-being of women and men in Ibadan, Nigeria. The study used primary data which were obtained through cross-sectional survey of households systematically carried out in Ibadan. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression statistical techniques were used to analyze the data. Significant intra-urban variation is found in the effects of housing stressors on physical well-being of women and men. Only the impact of the high rent/cost is found to be higher for men than for women. Each of the housing stressors has more impact on the female-head households than on the married women living in the male-head households. Policy implication of the study suggested that gender sensitive urban development and planning policies that target - provision/rehabilitation of urban infrastructure, provision of infrastructural facilities and employment opportunities in the suburban and the surrounding rural areas, poverty eradication, creation of enabling environment to facilitate increasing production of affordable houses to the low-income earners, provision of more spacious housing and the creation of communal space in the residential areas, decentralization of urban activities and services - will have great effects on the general well-being of urban population.
References
Agbola, S.B. 2005. The Housing Debacle. Inaugural Lecture Delivered at the University of Ibadan, Thursday, August 4, 2005.
Agbola, T. 1998. The Housing of Nigerians: A Review of Policy Development and Implementation. Research Report, No. 14, Development Policy Centre, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Ayeni, B. 1979. Concepts and Techniques in Urban Analysis, Croom Helm, London.
Babbie, E. 1998. The Practice of Social Research. Wadsworth, New York.
Barvera, M. 1981. “Social support in the adjustment of pregnant adolescents: Assessment issues”. In: Gottlieb, B.H. (ed.) Social Networks and Social Support, Sage, Beverly Hills Ca. pp 69-96.
Byrne, D. 1999. Social Exclusion: Issues in Society. Open University Press, Buckingham.
Cappon, D. 1971. “Mental Health in the high rise”. Can. Publ. Hlth., 62: 42-431.
Cohen, P. etal 1982. “Community stressors, mediating conditions and well-being in urban
neighbourhoods”. J. Comm. Psych., 10:377-391.
De Vaus, D.A. 1998. Surveys in Social Research UCL, London.
Dohrenwend, B.P., Shrout, P.E., Egri, G. G., Mendelson, F. S. 1980. “Nonspecific
psychological distress and other dimensions of psychopathology”. Archs gen. Psychiat., 37: 1229.
Duvall, D., Booth, A. 1978. “The housing environment and women’s health” J. Hlth. Soc. Behav., 19: 410-417.
Edwards, J.N., Booth A., Edwards, P.R. 1982. “Housing types, stress and family relations”. Social Forces. 61: 241-257.
such residential land use districts lack basic amenities and facilities that make housing environment a convenient place to live. This study has shown that even though both women and men are affected by the housing condition, the effect on women is more due to their expected roles and responsibilities in the households.
Therefore, in order to address the situation, there is the need to carry out spatial engineering which Okafor (2000) terms “spatial manipulation” of the residential environments but with gender sensitivity. In other words, and as Filani (1999) identifies in the challenge to the future of geography, there is the need to organize and re-organize space within the dwelling unit and the dwelling environments in such a way that is gender sensitive. Hitherto, the focus of professionals engaged in the business of creating dwellings and dwelling environments has been on households defined and interpreted more often as household heads, whereas women are the primary and major consumers and users of these environments. For instance, it is common for the architect, in preparing a programme of requirements for the design of owner-occupied residences, to involve in the process, only the household head (usually a man) who has commissioned him to design a house. Little or no importance is attached to the specific requirements, values, roles and attitudes of women with respect to both the dwelling and its environment. In order to carryout spatial engineering that is gender-sensitive there is need to adopt approaches to planning and design that are more gender-conscious and sensitive.
The need for gender-conscious and sensitive spatial engineering even becomes more imperative with the fact that there has been a continuing process of separation of spheres of work and home. There is the need for the upgrading of the residential areas. Roads and other basic amenities and facilities need to be provided where they are non-existent and also made functional where they are no more functioning. Women should be encouraged to be involved in the planning interventions in the urban problems. This is because, in almost all aspects of the urban problem, women would benefit most from improvements. Tasks such as collecting drinking water and fuel, cooking and washing, keeping homes and land tidy, getting rid of waste, keeping up allotments, bringing up children and caring for the sick and invalids in the home usually fall on their shoulders. Hitherto, just as it is taken for granted that women should be responsible for these tasks, it is also assumed that women do not need to be involved in planning interventions in these areas. This perspective to urban planning and policy must change. The needs and priorities of women shuold be taken into account when neighbourhood improvements and basic facilities are being prepared.
As emphasized by Kolstee et al. (1994), women should be the starting point of plans for land use, routes to schools and markets, child care centers and local family and healthcare centers, and the location and layout of collective drinking water and sanitary facilities, collection points for domestic waste and facilities in the home ranging from ventilation in kitchens to space for a cottage industry that can supplement the household’s income.
Man, naturally, would like to follow the line of least resistance and expend minimum efforts in reaching his goals. In an urban planning setting, the goal is achieving distance/
Egunjobi, L. 2002. “Planning the Nigerian Cities for Better Quality of Life” in Onakomaiya S.O. and Oyesiku O.O. (eds.). Environment, Physical Planning and Development in Nigeria, Department of Geography and Regional Planning, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria, pp. 89-107.
Egunjobi, L. 1999. Our Gasping Cities An Inaugural Lecture delivered at the University of Ibadan on Thursday, 21st October .
Evans, G.W. (ed.) 1982. Environmental Stress, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Fanning, D.M. 1967. “Families in Flats” British Medical Journal.,18: 382-86.
Filani, M.O. 1999. “Reflections on 50 Years of Geography in Nigeria”. Annals of the Social Science Academy of Nigeria, 11: 45-64.
Gore, S. 1978. The effect of social support in moderating the health consequences of
unemployment”. J. Hlth Soc. Behav., 19:157 165.
Harries, K. 1997. “Social stress and Tauma: Synthesis and spatial analysis”. Social Science and Medicine, 45:(8):1251-1264.
Hendershott, A.B. 1989. “Residential mobility, social support and adolescent self-concept”. Adolescence, 93: 217-233.
Hyndman, S.J. 1990. Housing dampness and health amongst British Bengalis in East London. Social Science and Medicine, 30: 131.
Kasl, S.V. 1974. “Effects of housing on mental and physical health”. Man-Envt. Syst., 4: 207-226.
Kasl, S.V., Harburg, E. 1975. “Mental health and the urban environment: Some doubts and second thoughts”. J. Hlth. Soc. Behav., 16: 266-282.
Kessler, R.C., Esses, M. 1982. “Marital status and depression: the importance of coping resources”. Soc. Forces., 61: 484-507.
Kolstee Theo, Bijlmer Joep and Dosterhout Fon Van (eds.) 1994. Urban Poverty alleviation Sectorial Policy Document Cooperation 5 Randstab b.v. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague Netherlands.
Larocco, M. James, House, S. James, John, R.P. French, Jr. 1980. “Social Support, Occupational Stress, and Health” Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21: 202-218.
Lazarus, R.S. 1984. “Puzzle in the study of daily hassles”. J. Behav. Med., 7: 375-389.
Liem, R., Liem, J. 1978. “Social class and mental illness reconsidered: the role of economic stress and social support”. J. Hlth Soc. Behav., 19: 139-156.
Martin, A.E. 1987. “Environment, housing and health”. Urban Studies, 4: 1-21.
Martin, J. Claudian, Stephen, D. Platt, Sonja, M. Hunt 1987. “Housing conditions and ill health” British Medical Journal, 294(2): 1125-1127.
Mirowsky, J., Ross, C.E. 1989. Social causes of Psychological Distress. Aldine, New York.
Mishra, R. 1971. “Some social implications of high density”. Am.Sociol. Rev., 36: 18-29.
Neil, C.C. 1991. “Social integration and shared living space: psychiatric impairment among single men”. Housing Studies, 5: 24-36.
Nuckolls, K.B., Cassel, J., Kaplan, B.H. 1972. “Psychological stress, life crisis and prognosis of pregnancy”. Am. J. Epidem. 95: 431-441.
Ogunsanya, A. A. 2002. Makers and Breaker of Cities. The Fifty-ninth Inaugural Lecture delivered at the University of Ilorin on Thursday, June 27.
Okafor, S.I. 2000. “The Limitations of Spatial Engineering”. Nigerian Geographical Journal (New Series). 3 & 4: 72-82.
Oyesiku, O.O. 2002. From Womb to Tomb. 24th Inaugural Lecture, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, 27th August.
Pacione, M. 1990. “Urban Liveability: A Review”. Urban Geography, 11: 1-30.
Platt D. Stephen, Claudia J. Martin, Sonja M. Hunt, Chris W. Lewis 1989. “Damp housing, mould growth, and symptomatic health state” British Medical Journal, 298(24):1673-1678.
Robinson, M. Guy 1998. Methods and Techniques in Human Geography Wiley New York.
Schulz, R., Decker, S. 1985. “Long-term adjustment to physical disability: the role of social support perceived control, and self blame” J. Pers. Soc. Psych., 48: 1162-1172
Selye, H. (ed.) 1980. Selye,s guide to Stress Research Vol. 1 Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
Selye, H. (ed.) 1983. Selye’s guide to Stress Research Vol. 2 Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
Smith, A. Carolyn, Christopher, J. Smith, Robin, A. Kearns, and Max W. Abbott 1993. “Housing Stressors, Social Support and Psychological Distress” Social Science and Medicine, 37(5): 603-612.
Smith, S.J. 1990. “Health status and the housing system”. Social Science and Medicine. 31: 753-762.
Simmons, R.G., Burgeson, R., Carlton-Ford, S. 1987. “The impact of cumulative change in early adolescence”. Child Dev., 58: 1220-1234.
Stokols, D., Shumaker, S.A. 1982. “The Psychological context of residential mobility and well being”. Journal of Social Issues, 38: 149-171.
Strachan, D.P. 1988. “Damp housing and childhood asthma: validating of reporting of
symptoms” British Medical Journal, 297(12): 1223-1226.
Theodore, D. Fuller, John N. Edwards, Santhat Sermsri and Sairudee Vorakitphokatorn 1993. “Housing, Stress, and Physical well being: Evidence from Thailand” Social Science and Medicine, 36(11): 1417-1428.
Theodore, D. Fuller, John, N. Edwards, Sairudee Vorakitphokatorn and Santhat Sermsri 1996. “Chronic Stress and Psychological well being: Evidence from Thailand on Household Crowing” Social Science and Medicine, 42(2): 265-280.
Thoits, A. P. 1982. “Conceptual, Methodology, and Theoretical Problems in Studying Social Support as a Buffer Against Life Stress” Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 23: 145-159.
Vila, B. 1994. “A general paradigm for understanding criminal behaviour: extending evolutionary ecological theory”. Criminology 32: 311-359.
Voydanoff, P. 1990. Economic distress and family relations: a review of the 1980s. J. Marriage and Fam., 52: 1099-1115.
Walker, K. MacBride A., Vachon M. 1997. “social support networks and the crisis of bereavement”. Social Science and Medicine, 11: 35-41.
Weinraub, M., Woolf, B.M. 1983. “Effects of stress and social supports on mother-child interactions in single and two-parent families”. Child Dev., 54: 1297-1311.
Workman, C. 1984. “Social support and the Cancer Patient”. Cancer, 53: 2239-2260.
Agbola, T. 1998. The Housing of Nigerians: A Review of Policy Development and Implementation. Research Report, No. 14, Development Policy Centre, Ibadan, Nigeria.
Ayeni, B. 1979. Concepts and Techniques in Urban Analysis, Croom Helm, London.
Babbie, E. 1998. The Practice of Social Research. Wadsworth, New York.
Barvera, M. 1981. “Social support in the adjustment of pregnant adolescents: Assessment issues”. In: Gottlieb, B.H. (ed.) Social Networks and Social Support, Sage, Beverly Hills Ca. pp 69-96.
Byrne, D. 1999. Social Exclusion: Issues in Society. Open University Press, Buckingham.
Cappon, D. 1971. “Mental Health in the high rise”. Can. Publ. Hlth., 62: 42-431.
Cohen, P. etal 1982. “Community stressors, mediating conditions and well-being in urban
neighbourhoods”. J. Comm. Psych., 10:377-391.
De Vaus, D.A. 1998. Surveys in Social Research UCL, London.
Dohrenwend, B.P., Shrout, P.E., Egri, G. G., Mendelson, F. S. 1980. “Nonspecific
psychological distress and other dimensions of psychopathology”. Archs gen. Psychiat., 37: 1229.
Duvall, D., Booth, A. 1978. “The housing environment and women’s health” J. Hlth. Soc. Behav., 19: 410-417.
Edwards, J.N., Booth A., Edwards, P.R. 1982. “Housing types, stress and family relations”. Social Forces. 61: 241-257.
such residential land use districts lack basic amenities and facilities that make housing environment a convenient place to live. This study has shown that even though both women and men are affected by the housing condition, the effect on women is more due to their expected roles and responsibilities in the households.
Therefore, in order to address the situation, there is the need to carry out spatial engineering which Okafor (2000) terms “spatial manipulation” of the residential environments but with gender sensitivity. In other words, and as Filani (1999) identifies in the challenge to the future of geography, there is the need to organize and re-organize space within the dwelling unit and the dwelling environments in such a way that is gender sensitive. Hitherto, the focus of professionals engaged in the business of creating dwellings and dwelling environments has been on households defined and interpreted more often as household heads, whereas women are the primary and major consumers and users of these environments. For instance, it is common for the architect, in preparing a programme of requirements for the design of owner-occupied residences, to involve in the process, only the household head (usually a man) who has commissioned him to design a house. Little or no importance is attached to the specific requirements, values, roles and attitudes of women with respect to both the dwelling and its environment. In order to carryout spatial engineering that is gender-sensitive there is need to adopt approaches to planning and design that are more gender-conscious and sensitive.
The need for gender-conscious and sensitive spatial engineering even becomes more imperative with the fact that there has been a continuing process of separation of spheres of work and home. There is the need for the upgrading of the residential areas. Roads and other basic amenities and facilities need to be provided where they are non-existent and also made functional where they are no more functioning. Women should be encouraged to be involved in the planning interventions in the urban problems. This is because, in almost all aspects of the urban problem, women would benefit most from improvements. Tasks such as collecting drinking water and fuel, cooking and washing, keeping homes and land tidy, getting rid of waste, keeping up allotments, bringing up children and caring for the sick and invalids in the home usually fall on their shoulders. Hitherto, just as it is taken for granted that women should be responsible for these tasks, it is also assumed that women do not need to be involved in planning interventions in these areas. This perspective to urban planning and policy must change. The needs and priorities of women shuold be taken into account when neighbourhood improvements and basic facilities are being prepared.
As emphasized by Kolstee et al. (1994), women should be the starting point of plans for land use, routes to schools and markets, child care centers and local family and healthcare centers, and the location and layout of collective drinking water and sanitary facilities, collection points for domestic waste and facilities in the home ranging from ventilation in kitchens to space for a cottage industry that can supplement the household’s income.
Man, naturally, would like to follow the line of least resistance and expend minimum efforts in reaching his goals. In an urban planning setting, the goal is achieving distance/
Egunjobi, L. 2002. “Planning the Nigerian Cities for Better Quality of Life” in Onakomaiya S.O. and Oyesiku O.O. (eds.). Environment, Physical Planning and Development in Nigeria, Department of Geography and Regional Planning, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria, pp. 89-107.
Egunjobi, L. 1999. Our Gasping Cities An Inaugural Lecture delivered at the University of Ibadan on Thursday, 21st October .
Evans, G.W. (ed.) 1982. Environmental Stress, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Fanning, D.M. 1967. “Families in Flats” British Medical Journal.,18: 382-86.
Filani, M.O. 1999. “Reflections on 50 Years of Geography in Nigeria”. Annals of the Social Science Academy of Nigeria, 11: 45-64.
Gore, S. 1978. The effect of social support in moderating the health consequences of
unemployment”. J. Hlth Soc. Behav., 19:157 165.
Harries, K. 1997. “Social stress and Tauma: Synthesis and spatial analysis”. Social Science and Medicine, 45:(8):1251-1264.
Hendershott, A.B. 1989. “Residential mobility, social support and adolescent self-concept”. Adolescence, 93: 217-233.
Hyndman, S.J. 1990. Housing dampness and health amongst British Bengalis in East London. Social Science and Medicine, 30: 131.
Kasl, S.V. 1974. “Effects of housing on mental and physical health”. Man-Envt. Syst., 4: 207-226.
Kasl, S.V., Harburg, E. 1975. “Mental health and the urban environment: Some doubts and second thoughts”. J. Hlth. Soc. Behav., 16: 266-282.
Kessler, R.C., Esses, M. 1982. “Marital status and depression: the importance of coping resources”. Soc. Forces., 61: 484-507.
Kolstee Theo, Bijlmer Joep and Dosterhout Fon Van (eds.) 1994. Urban Poverty alleviation Sectorial Policy Document Cooperation 5 Randstab b.v. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Hague Netherlands.
Larocco, M. James, House, S. James, John, R.P. French, Jr. 1980. “Social Support, Occupational Stress, and Health” Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 21: 202-218.
Lazarus, R.S. 1984. “Puzzle in the study of daily hassles”. J. Behav. Med., 7: 375-389.
Liem, R., Liem, J. 1978. “Social class and mental illness reconsidered: the role of economic stress and social support”. J. Hlth Soc. Behav., 19: 139-156.
Martin, A.E. 1987. “Environment, housing and health”. Urban Studies, 4: 1-21.
Martin, J. Claudian, Stephen, D. Platt, Sonja, M. Hunt 1987. “Housing conditions and ill health” British Medical Journal, 294(2): 1125-1127.
Mirowsky, J., Ross, C.E. 1989. Social causes of Psychological Distress. Aldine, New York.
Mishra, R. 1971. “Some social implications of high density”. Am.Sociol. Rev., 36: 18-29.
Neil, C.C. 1991. “Social integration and shared living space: psychiatric impairment among single men”. Housing Studies, 5: 24-36.
Nuckolls, K.B., Cassel, J., Kaplan, B.H. 1972. “Psychological stress, life crisis and prognosis of pregnancy”. Am. J. Epidem. 95: 431-441.
Ogunsanya, A. A. 2002. Makers and Breaker of Cities. The Fifty-ninth Inaugural Lecture delivered at the University of Ilorin on Thursday, June 27.
Okafor, S.I. 2000. “The Limitations of Spatial Engineering”. Nigerian Geographical Journal (New Series). 3 & 4: 72-82.
Oyesiku, O.O. 2002. From Womb to Tomb. 24th Inaugural Lecture, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, 27th August.
Pacione, M. 1990. “Urban Liveability: A Review”. Urban Geography, 11: 1-30.
Platt D. Stephen, Claudia J. Martin, Sonja M. Hunt, Chris W. Lewis 1989. “Damp housing, mould growth, and symptomatic health state” British Medical Journal, 298(24):1673-1678.
Robinson, M. Guy 1998. Methods and Techniques in Human Geography Wiley New York.
Schulz, R., Decker, S. 1985. “Long-term adjustment to physical disability: the role of social support perceived control, and self blame” J. Pers. Soc. Psych., 48: 1162-1172
Selye, H. (ed.) 1980. Selye,s guide to Stress Research Vol. 1 Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
Selye, H. (ed.) 1983. Selye’s guide to Stress Research Vol. 2 Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York.
Smith, A. Carolyn, Christopher, J. Smith, Robin, A. Kearns, and Max W. Abbott 1993. “Housing Stressors, Social Support and Psychological Distress” Social Science and Medicine, 37(5): 603-612.
Smith, S.J. 1990. “Health status and the housing system”. Social Science and Medicine. 31: 753-762.
Simmons, R.G., Burgeson, R., Carlton-Ford, S. 1987. “The impact of cumulative change in early adolescence”. Child Dev., 58: 1220-1234.
Stokols, D., Shumaker, S.A. 1982. “The Psychological context of residential mobility and well being”. Journal of Social Issues, 38: 149-171.
Strachan, D.P. 1988. “Damp housing and childhood asthma: validating of reporting of
symptoms” British Medical Journal, 297(12): 1223-1226.
Theodore, D. Fuller, John N. Edwards, Santhat Sermsri and Sairudee Vorakitphokatorn 1993. “Housing, Stress, and Physical well being: Evidence from Thailand” Social Science and Medicine, 36(11): 1417-1428.
Theodore, D. Fuller, John, N. Edwards, Sairudee Vorakitphokatorn and Santhat Sermsri 1996. “Chronic Stress and Psychological well being: Evidence from Thailand on Household Crowing” Social Science and Medicine, 42(2): 265-280.
Thoits, A. P. 1982. “Conceptual, Methodology, and Theoretical Problems in Studying Social Support as a Buffer Against Life Stress” Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 23: 145-159.
Vila, B. 1994. “A general paradigm for understanding criminal behaviour: extending evolutionary ecological theory”. Criminology 32: 311-359.
Voydanoff, P. 1990. Economic distress and family relations: a review of the 1980s. J. Marriage and Fam., 52: 1099-1115.
Walker, K. MacBride A., Vachon M. 1997. “social support networks and the crisis of bereavement”. Social Science and Medicine, 11: 35-41.
Weinraub, M., Woolf, B.M. 1983. “Effects of stress and social supports on mother-child interactions in single and two-parent families”. Child Dev., 54: 1297-1311.
Workman, C. 1984. “Social support and the Cancer Patient”. Cancer, 53: 2239-2260.
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