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THE PLACE OF WOMEN IN THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 

AND THE POST COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN NIGERIA 

 

By 

Amaka Theresa Oriaku Emordi 

Lecturer, Department of Political Science, 

Obafemic Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria 

Email: amakaemordi@gmail.com 

 

Abstract 

The United Nations' celebration of the International Women's Day in 1975 was an 

occasion to stand together to advance gender equality around the world. This equality is 

yet to be evident in STEM and technological applications than any other area. Women 

are more analog than their male counterparts. Most of the new technological equipment 

such as phones, remote control, laptops, and other technological appliances women use 

are managed by their digital children and their male relatives.  Today, technology has 

advanced from quantum physicists to artificial intelligence yet women are still grappling 

to understand the use of basic personal technological equipment. The increase in the 

number of women academics over the past 60 years has increased these gender 

differences in the used tech but much is yet to be achieved for women to be relevant in 

the technological ecosystem of the fourth industrial revolution.  

 

The dawn of this new dispensation of the fourth industrial revolution is presenting 

technology as a tool for solving human problems amidst unpredictable socio-economic 

and political quagmires of our new world. From a frustrated youth who set himself ablaze 

thereby igniting the Arab springs of 2011, to the ousting of an incumbent president to 

install an opposition president in 2019 Nigerian elections, to the black life matters 

revolutions in the USA precipitated by the murder of George Floyd amongst others. All 

these point to the new realities of the fourth industrial revolution as new mode of 

production for goods, services, war or peace in the hands of the youths.  Applying the 

ecosystem theory, and online quantitative research design, this paper seeks to answer the 

following questions: What is the place of women in the fourth industrial revolution? To 

what extent can women be crucial in the use of technology as a tool for peace?  How can 

women's technological know-how in the fourth industrial revolution bridge the gender 

gap? To sustain and increase their presence in this new mode of production as the 

invasion of the COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be an eye-opener for all, women must 

either latch in this emerging era and be mainstreamed or widen the gender gap by being 

lethargic to technology.  

KEYWORDS:  INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, POST-COVID, NIGERIA 

 

 

mailto:amakaemordi@gmail.com


 

 

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Introduction 
Mainstreaming a gender perspective is the process of assessing the implications for 

women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs, in all 

areas and at all levels. The essence of mainstreaming gender is to ensure that men and 

women benefit in all political, economic and social spheres and that gender equality is 

achieved and sustained especially in STEM and that inequality is not perpetuated.   

 

In recent times, technology has become a powerful tool for peace and war. Technology 

today is used as a political tool for peace and war, exposing sensitive political and 

governmental information to the benefit of the public (www.acquia.com).  Traditionally, 

women have been found to play an important role in the prevention and resolution of 

conflicts and in peace-building (Nwolise 2014).  Paradoxically, women are very 

marginal in STEM than any other sphere of life.  The UN has made efforts for the 

maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and the need to increase the role of 

women in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution 

(peacewomen.org/scr-1325). The big question then is; since women have continued to 

lag behind in science and technology how is this very tall ambition of the UN going to 

be realized in a world that is technologically driven? 

 

The Covid-19 pandemic has opened the eyes of the world especially Nigeria that 

technology and perhaps artificial intelligence is the way to go for the production of goods 

and services, peace, and war. The aftermath of this evolving change in the   mode of 

production of goods and services is that social positions would change again as in other 

previous industrial revolutions. In this industrial revolution those who do not own the 

means of production (technology and technological know-how) would become modern 

slaves and serfs of those who own property and means of production of goods and 

services hence the bourgeoisie would always in every history dominate the nagging and 

irritant proletariat.  

 

The Covid-19 invasion of the world has further changed the world and proved that 

technology is as a means of production is inevitable. Our world has and we are also 

changed but if the change is not balanced, if the change is skewed towards the men then 

it may be counterproductive. As Albert, (2014) maintained that every society is like an 

aircraft having two wings, “male and female wings”. Any society that fails to include 

women in development processes can be said to be flying on one wing (male wing) and 

such a society could easily crash (Albert 2014). Confirming this assertion Emordi, (2018) 

conceded that the world without women will be like the Hobbesian State of nature while 

planning development and managing situations like insecurity without women could 

mean effort in futility. 

  

http://www.acquia.com/


 

 

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In line with the above argument biodiversity as we understand it is the processes of 

disturbance and succession and that the ecosystems provide a variety of goods and 

services upon which people depend. For the circle of the ecosystem to be complete there 

is a need for the biotic and abiotic components to synthesize to produce a healthy 

environment and to improve the quality of both biotic and abiotic components involved 

(Chapin, Stuart, Pamela, Matson, Peter & Vitousek (2011) The exclusion of any of the 

two components would lead to environmental degradation and negative climatic 

conditions that would spell disaster to humans and the environment.  In Political science, 

David Easton system the theory sees the political system as the interaction of all the 

elements involved in policymaking. In it, he believes that any defect in any of the 

elements involved in the political system will affect the holistic function of the political 

system (Hauss 2006) 

 

Consequently, there is need for components of a system to be actively involved in the 

maintenance of the system, be it in the ecosystem or the political system or transition 

from one mode of production to another. The negation of any of the elements’ or 

components of the system will alter the comprehensive and healthy function of the whole. 

This is because the elements in a cyclic manner impact each other and together through 

nutrient cycles and energy maintain and sustain the system. Therefore, negating women 

as important elements in STEM in Nigeria and elsewhere in the emerging fourth 

industrial revolution will not benefit the county in her quest to succeed in the use of 

technology as the next mode of production. Industrialization has changed man and have 

impacted the environment positively and negatively but the vital and very crucial role of 

women in the fourth industrial revolution cannot be over-emphasized and neglected. 

 

Consequently, this survey research on the place of women in the fourth industrial 

revolution interrogated the extent women can be crucial in the use of technology as a tool 

for peace in the new mode of production. How women's technological know-how in the 

fourth industrial revolution would bridge the gender gap, and what can be done to sustain 

and increase the presence of women in science and technology that is evolving like a 

specter around the world as the new mode of production. Women must either latch in 

this emerging era and be mainstreamed or widen the gender gap by being lethargic to 

technology. The paper is, however, divided into sessions which starts with understanding 

the concept of the industrial revolution, data analysis where quantitative data was 

analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistics, then the revelation which buttresses 

the findings of the data was followed by the summary and recommendation for the way 

forward. 

 

Understanding Concept of Industrial Revolution 

There are three industrial revolutions that transformed our modern society. Each of these 

three advancements signified a change in the mode of production. The First Industrial 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disturbance_(ecology)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_succession
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem_services
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecosystem_services


 

 

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Revolution from 1760 to sometime between 1820 and 1840, now also known as the First 

Industrial Revolution, was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and 

the United States. The revolution caused the growth of industries, such as coal, iron, 

railroads, and textiles. The Second Industrial Revolution the 1870s witnessed the 

expansion of electricity, petroleum, and steel (David, 1969)). The third industrial 

revolution, the cyber revolution 1950s-2019 brought us to the fourth industrial 

revolution. The revolution fundamentally changed our world and thereby changing our 

ecosystem. Each change that occurred had to do with new products simply replacing old 

ones and a shift in the mode of production (Horn, Jeff; Rosenband, Leonard; Smith & 

Merritt 2010).  

  

Consequently, the industrial revolution which began in England in the second half of the 

eighteenth century spread in due course to Belgium, France, and other parts of Western 

Europe (Appadorai, 2004). In the economic sphere, the revolution substituted machine 

production for hand production. The small –scale production of goods in private homes 

was supplanted by mass production in factories. With the new mode of production 

women had their loved ones- children and husbands; migrate from farm to factories, from 

country to city, from agriculture to industry while women kept the homes. Following this 

philosophers such as Hegel and Rousseau stressed that the natural and spontaneous 

division of labor within the family also naturally paved the way for the social position of 

men and women in society (Bryson, 2003). 

 

 Marx on the other hand, stressed that the changes in the mode of production and the 

industrial revolution birthed capitalism which divided the society into two hostile camps- 

the protectorate and the bourgeoisie. To him, the proletariat grew larger and larger with 

their miseries and pauperization attenuated while the bourgeoisie becomes numerically 

smaller, prosperous, and well-off with wages pushed lower and lower. Unfortunately, 

women who were neither the bourgeoisie nor the proletariats in that industrial epoch kept 

the home while men worked either as bourgeoisie or the proletariat. This resonated in 

women been some kind of cartel for men where he regarded his wife and children as his 

property and slaves. The man had power over them and could do with their labor as he 

chooses. 

 

 Women were rather properties of either the bourgeoisies (men) or proletariats (men) as 

wives (heir breeders) or slaves. The home position women occupied made them lose out 

in the changing mode of production and the subsequent industrial revolutions. The two 

social classes, the bourgeoisie, and the proletariat being owners of the mode of 

production one way or the other. The proletariats having women in their homes wives, 

breeders of their heirs, and maintainers of the proletariat private property. On the other 

hand, the bourgeoisie owns both- their wives, children, and the proletariat.  The class 

difference between the bourgeoisie and proletariats was sharply differentiated in function 



 

 

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and interest. Appadorai (2004) explained that the industrial revolution destroyed forever, 

the preponderance weight of the agricultural classes in the community, and brought into 

being a new middle class who generally and year by year become more insistent in their 

demand for political recognition (Appadorai 2004).  

 

Again, the Second Industrial Revolution in 1870 the century which was the Age of 

Science and Mass Production. With it, things started to speed up and a number of key 

inventions were recorded. Owners of means of production now richer started thinking of 

gasoline engines, airplanes, chemical fertilizer,s and inventions that helped them go 

faster and do more.  Scientific principles were brought right into the factories. Most 

notably, the assembly line effectively powered mass production. By the early part of the 

20th century, Henry Ford’s company was mass-producing the groundbreaking Ford 

Model T, a car with a gasoline engine built on an assembly line in his factories.   

 

People follow the jobs, and in the early 1900s large number of workers left their rural 

homes behind to move to urban areas to work in factories. By 1900, 40% of the people 

in the rural areas especially in the US lived in cities, compared to just 6% in 1800. Cities 

were getting more and more urbanized. Inventions such as electric lighting, the radio, 

and telephones transformed the way people lived and communicated and this ushered in 

the modern world- the third Industrial revolution. 

 

The Third Industrial revolution beginning in the 1950s fundamentally changed with the 

discovery of electricity and mass production ushering in the Digital Industrial 

Revolution.  With the third industrial the revolution came the magical internet which 

replaced the steam engines and the Ford Mainframe computers with some kind of 

miniature mobile and handy devices that lets you access both the cloud (soft) and the( 

earth hard copies)- that was the wonders of the digital internet cloud.  The third industrial 

revolution brought semiconductors, mainframe, and personal computers. Things that 

used to be analog moved to digital technologies, like an old television you used to tune 

in with an antenna (analog) being replaced by an Internet-connected tablet that lets you 

stream movies (digital). The move from analog electronic and mechanical devices to 

pervasive digital technology dramatically disrupted industries, especially global 

communications and energy. Electronics and information technology, internet 

commerce, and trade eclipse the cloud. The third industrial revolution provided access to 

gargantuan information explosion and knowledge consumption thereby exacerbating 

good and bad information consumption especially in the hand of the youth. 

 

 Each of these (first -third industrial revolutions) represented profound change with the 

major societal transformation of the way people lived and work and communicated. The 

discovery in the Third industrial revolution advanced profoundly and has equally 

launched us into the fourth industrial revolution. At the moment, many of the 



 

 

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technologies people dreamed of in the 1950s and 60s have become a reality in the 

emerging fourth of the industrial revolution and we are going to be more changed as the 

fourth industrial revolution completely emerged.  

 

With it, we may have flying cars as we already have robots. Full-blown genetic 

sequencing and editing, artificial intelligence, miniaturized sensors, and 3D revolutions 

(printing, to name a few (trailhead.salesforce.com 2020). What then will be the fate of 

women who are still grappling with the mastering the use of basic personal technological 

equipment? 

  

Philosophical perspective of Women marginalization in Industrial Revolutions  
For Rousseau men and women differed in virtues. While a man’s virtue was his rational 

capacity, a woman‘s virtue was her sexuality which meant chastity, gentleness, and 

obedience. Since the functions of men and women differed, their education would also 

have to be different (Rousseau) Disagreeing with Rousseau, Wollstonecraft argued that 

the fulfillment of maturity and the eventual emancipation of women would come only 

when women are treated as persons and not merely as sexual beings. Contending that 

women like men were endowed with reason enabling them to make rational decisions 

and were entitled to natural rights. She stretches further that men and women should be 

given equal education. 

 

Analyzing the origin of the family, private property and state and drawing heavily on the 

work of the 19th-century anthropologist Lewis Morgan, Engels traced the supposed 

evolution and subordination of women in the family and society from the earliest savage 

society to the present day (Mukherjee, & Sheila 2011).  

 

According to him, primitive societies differed from modern society in that relations 

between the sexes were based on equality. Then he argued that there was a sexual division 

of labor whereby women were responsible for domestic work and men for agriculture 

and animal husbandry and there was the practice of paring family (which was not the 

same as strict monogamy) From the account of Engel in the primitive society this did not 

involve subordination; the women reigned supreme in the home and decent was 

calculated through the female line.) Engels called this mother- rights).  

 

The egalitarian situation was, however, changed by the development of new sources of 

wealth in the male sphere of activity through the domestication of animals and the 

breeding of herbs. As some men gained property and power over others, their position 

within the family was strengthened, and they wanted to pass their property to their 

children. To do this they have to overthrow the traditional order of inheritance and ensure 

strict monogamy on the part of each woman, who became the mere oppression of her 

husband, the means of producing an heir. In Eagles’ vivid phrase, the overthrow of the 



 

 

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mother right was the world’s historical defeat of the female sex (Mukherjee, & Sheila 

2011).  

 

Consequently, the man took command in the home, the woman was degraded and 

reduced to servitude, and she became the slave of his lust and a mere instrument for the 

production of children. This account of Engels can be inferred that the subordination of 

women coincided with the first private property and class society, for it was then that 

women lost control in the home and became economically dependent upon men; it also 

means that female oppression has no other material cause-- it is a part of class society, 

but not necessarily a permanent feature of human relationships. Therefore, the abolition 

of private property will mean an end to sex oppression. For men will no longer have any 

motive to exploit women; the supremacy the man in marriage is a simple consequence 

of his economic supremacy and with the abolition of the later, it disappears of itself 

Engels in Bryson (2003) argued that good equality in the society could not be achieved 

by will but only at a particular state of historical and economic development.  

 

Following the account of Engels women marginal representation in societies started from 

the transition from agrarian to the acquisition of private property and animal husbandry 

through the overthrow of mother-right. From the first phase of change of production to 

the industrial revolution up to the third, women have remained stocked in the family and 

are hardly represented in governance, science and technology. Mill (1806-1873) argued 

that women were marginalized because women acquiesced themselves to the situation 

and also police their own marginalization by fighting women who try to live outside the 

gender norm. For example, the widows’ right are performed and executed by women. 

Invectives are usually hurled on women by women who live outside of expected cultural 

and patriarchal norms for women. 

 

Consequently, the United Nations' celebration of International Women's Day in 1975 was 

an occasion to stand together to advance gender equality around the world but this 

equality is yet to be evident in STEM and technological applications than any other area. 

According to Mayanja (2020), this year marks ten years the United Nations Security 

Council Resolution 1325 which anchored mainly on the mainstreaming of women in 

peace and conflict issues yet women are still marginalized in that sector at the dawn of 

the fourth industrial revolution when previously unimaginable technological productions 

is staring at the world. It has presented itself to substitute the third industrial revolution 

of internet and electricity (Mayanja 2020).  Do women stand a chance of being 

mainstreamed in this new era? What is the place of women in the fourth industrial 

revolution? To what extent can women be crucial in the use of technology as a tool for 

peace? How can women's technological know-how in the fourth industrial revolution 

bridge the gender gap? 

  



 

 

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DATA ANALYSIS 
Quantitative data from an online survey for this paper were analyzed using inferential 

and descriptive statistics are hereby revealed below. Starting Table1.1: with an array of 

questions aimed at showing the place of women in the fourth industrial revolution. This 

is followed by two other tables according to the research questions for this paper.  

Table1.1: The place of women in the fourth industrial revolution 
Statement  AG SA DA SD U

D 

SU

M 

Women still trying to 

understand the use of basic 

personal technologies such as 

laptops and phones  

30.3% 13.2% 10.1% 43.3

% 

3.1

% 

10

0 

Do women have equal 

representation in sciences and 

technology 

32% 29.3% 12.3% 17.2

% 

9.2

% 

10

0 

Who helps women solve their 

technological equipment 

problems-sons, husbands , 

male relatives ,  

sons -

30.3% 

Male- 

relativ

es 

32.4% 

Daugh

ters  

18%  

wom

en 

12% 

7.3

% 

10

0 

Do you think women have 

distractions?  

multiple 

task 

50% 

husba

nds 

20% 

Marria

ge, 

14% 

Inter

est 

10% 

6% 10

0 

Total       

Source:  online survey by Amaka T.O. Emordi 2020  

 

Are women still trying to understand the use of basic personal technologies such as 

laptops and phones? 30.3% of the respondents strongly agreed that many women are still 

trying to understand the use of basic personal technologies such as laptops and phones 

while 32.4%  agreed to make it a total of 62.7% of the respondents that are in agreement 

that women are still are trying to understand the use of basic personal technologies such 

as laptops and phones.  18% strongly disagreed while 12% agreed while1 7.2 was 

undecided on the issue. However, the result showed that more of the respondents 62.7% 

were of the opinion that women are can conveniently use their basic technological 

equipment at the dawn of the fourth Industrial Revolution. Again to the question do 

women have equal representation in sciences and technology? 32% agreed while 29.3% 

strongly agreed.  12.3% disagreed as 17.2% disagreed. While 9.2% were undecided. The 

report revealed that 29.5 % disagreed while 61.3% are in agreement.  

 

To unveil who helps women solve their technological equipment problems -sons, male 

relatives daughters or women? The respondents 30.3% said that the women are helped 

by their sons while 32.4% stressed that women’s male relatives help women help women 



 

 

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in solving their technical problems but 18% confirmed that it was the female children 

(daughters) while 12% maintained that women fix their minor technological problems 

by themselves.  7.3% were undecided on who helps on who help women solve their 

problems. 

 

 To discover if women have things that distracts women from science and technology 

50% of the respondents agreed that women are distracted by multiple tasks and 20% 

believed that women are distracted by their husbands.  On the other hands, 14% of the 

respondents argue that women are distracted by marriage while 10% argue that women 

are not interested in science and technology while 6% were undecided about what 

distracts women. 

Table 1.2: Women be crucial in the use of technology as a tool for peace?   

Statement  AG SA DS SD UD SUM 

The fourth industrial revolution 

present technology as a tool for 

peace and war? 

47.1% 21.2% 20.1% 6.5% 5.1% 100 

Women stand a chance of 

bridging the gender gap using 

technology  

35% 29% 15% 13% 8% 100 

It is very crucial for women to 

advance in technology to be 

mainstreamed in the fourth IR. 

44.2% 26% 10.6% 13% 6.2% 100 

Technology can be a veritable 

tool in solving unpredictable 

social political and gender 

problems 

35.2% 30.3% 10.3% 14.2% 10% 100 

Technologically poor women 

will be left behind in the wheel 

of progress in the IR 

38.3% 32.1% 15.5% 9.1% 5% 100 

Source:  online survey by Amaka T.O. Emordi 2020. 

 

How crucial are women in the use of technology as too for peace and war? Responding 

to this question 47.1% agreed that women will be useful in using technology as a tool for 

peace than war.  21.2% strongly supported this statement. On the contrary, 20.1% 

disagreed while 6.5% strongly disagreed while 5.1 were undecided. Therefore 68.3 % 

were of the opinion that women could be useful in the use of technology as an instrument 

of peace. The result showed that 68.3% maintained that women will be very useful using 

technology as an instrument for peace in the fourth industrial revolution. 

 



 

 

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To uncover if women stand a chance of bridging the gender gap using technology? The 

respondents 35% agreed and 29% strongly supported the statement while 15% strongly 

disagreed and 13% disagreed while 8% were undecided. Their responses revealed that 

64% were of the opinion that women could bridge the gender gap using technology or 

widen it without efforts to latch in on the emerging fourth industrial revolution. If women 

as revealed in the findings are competent in the use of their personal technological equip 

they can be explored and improved upon. 

 

To discover how crucial it is for women to advance in technology so as to be 

mainstreamed in the fourth IR. 44.2% of the respondents responded by agreeing that it is 

very crucial for women to be mainstreamed in the fourth industrial revolution. 26% 

strongly support the statement while 10.6% disagreed and 13% strongly disagreed while 

6.2 were undecided. However, the total of 70.2 that affirmatively in the fact that women 

mainstreaming in the fourth industrial revolution is very crucial. 

 

In using technology as a veritable tool in solving unpredictable social political and gender 

problems 35.2% agreed while 30.3% strongly agreed   10.3% disagreed while 14.2% 

strongly disagreed while 10% was undecided on the statement. The respondents 65.5% 

agreed that technology will a veritable tool in the fourth industrial revolution and it will 

be better used by women to bridge the gender gap. 

 

To uncover the fate of technologically poor women in the fourth industrial revolution: 

the findings revealed that technologically poor women will be left behind in the wheel 

of progress in the IR as 38.3% agreed while 32.1% strongly agreed to make it a total of 

70.4% of them confirmed the statement. While 15.5% disagreed and 9.1% strongly 

disagreed.  5% of the respondents were not able to decide but were undecided. 

  

Table. 1.3: How women’s technological know-how in the fourth industrial 

revolution bridge the gender gap? 

Statement  AG SA DA SD UD SUM 

Women will play a positive role 

in gendering peace in our 

society using technology 

38 % 25.6% 13.7% 12.4% 10.3 100 

The emerging technology of the 

fourth IR will further 

marginalize women? 

25.5% 18.6% 35.2% 10.3% 10.4 100 

Women marginalization in 

science and technology is due to 

women’s lack of interest? 

21.4% 16.2% 38.3% 12.1% 12% 100 



 

 

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Women’s poor representation in 

science and technology is 

because of their nature? 

20.1% 19.1%  40% 12.8% 8% 100 

Women’s inability to embrace 

technology in the new era will 

widen the gender gap 

29.8% 32.2% 20.8% 12.1% 5.1 100 

Source:  online survey by Amaka T.O. Emordi 2020.  

 

To discover if women will play a positive role in gendering peace in our society using 

technology? To this question, 38 % were in agreement and 25.6% strongly supported the 

statement. However, 13.7% disagreed while 12.4% strongly disagreed that women will 

play a positive role in gendering peace in our society using technology while 10.3 was 

undecided. The statement showed 64.6% of the respondents agreeing that women playing 

a positive role to engender peace in the fourth industrial revolution. 

 

The emerging technology of the fourth IR will further marginalize women?  Respondents 

25.5% of them agreed that the emerging technology of the fourth IR will further 

marginalize women and widen the gender gap and 18.6% strongly agreed to the assertion. 

35.2% disagreed and 10.1% of the respondents strongly disagreed while 12% was 

undecided. This infers that 44% conceded that the gender gap could be widened in the 

fourth industrial revolution if women do not embrace technology 45.2% however, 

disagreed.  

 

Women marginalization in science and technology is due to women’s interest? In 

answering this question the respondents 21.4% agreed and 16.2 strongly agreed. 38.3% 

disagreed. 12.1 strongly disagreed and 12% was undecided. 37.6% argued that women 

marginal present in science and technology is because women lack interest while 50.4% 

disagreed,  arguing that women marginal presence in science and technology is not 

because women lack interest. While 12.1% strongly disagreed while 5.1% was undecided 

on why women are not duly represented in science and technology. 

 

Women’s poor representation in science and technology is because of their nature? 

20.1% agreed and 19.1 strongly agreed 40% disagreed 12.8% strongly disagreed and 8% 

was undecided. This revealed that women little presence in science and technology is not 

naturally determined but environmentally determined since 52.8% of the respondents 

disputed the statement that nature is the reason women are marginal in science and 

technology. 

 

The reason for women’s poor representation in technology is due to women’s inability 

to embrace technology in the new era will widen the gender gap 29.8% agreed and was 

supported by 32.2% this made it a total of 62% of the respondents stressing that women 



 

 

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need to embrace technology in the fourth industrial revolution or be further 

marginalized.20.8% disagreed as 12.1% strongly disagreed and 5.1% was undecided. 

 

The Revelation 

The result of the survey based on 62.7% of the respondents is that women can 

conveniently use their personal basic their basic technological equipment though 

theoretically and could have equal representation in sciences and technology but they are 

not able to solve their technological problems by themselves.61.3% believe that women 

still depend on their male relatives (sons or husbands) to solve their technological minor 

issues. Women were discovered to be distracted by a lot of factors which in reality affect 

both imputes and outputs of women in science and technology. Women are engaged in 

multiple tasks such as marriage, husbands, and children but there is also the women factor 

which is a lack of interest.  

 

Many of these factors are germane and therefore hinder women from benefiting in 

science and technology. Although a few women have made inroads in STEM, Lisa 

(2003) argued that the reason women are marginal in politics and STEM by extension is 

not the historical context and economic imperative of women participation in politics. 

No, according to her the reason is women’s lack. Women lack skills, drive, charisma, 

and political savvy all of which are symbolized by having a penis. As women lack this 

important piece of political equipment, being male seems to be a key criterion for 

growing up to occupy an important social position in the society such as becoming the 

president in the USA. Consequently using this as a political strategy, the state as a neutral 

referee approach and recommends women changing to become more like normative 

political actors, presumptively masculine. Women are required women to accept 

androcentric political priorities and standards to become like men (Lisa 2003). In our 

contemporary time, most women who go beyond the glass ceiling are either not married 

or are divorced and often times without children. If they remain married and with 

children, they must fight thrice as hard as the men worked to combine all of that to make 

headway.  

 

Sarah (2005) upholds Lisa’s position that  either through  nature or nurture women and 

men experience different treatments and outcomes when they run for office, lobby for 

policy, claim benefits, seek protection, compete for government contracts, join the 

military, call for, or run from the cops or otherwise, bump up against state institutions 

(Sarah 2005).  Differences in treatment and outcome result because people are already 

divided into masculine and feminine lines in the society and in their perception. 

 

The findings from the survey also revealed that women can bridge the gender gap easily 

with the use of technology when they are mainstreamed in it. This confirmed why  64% 

were of the respondents in this survey maintained that women could bridge the gender 



 

 

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gap using technology or widen it without efforts to latch in on the emerging fourth 

industrial revolution. If women as revealed in the findings can be competent in the use 

of their personal technological equip they can explored and improved upon. This is very 

crucial for women to occupy an enviable place in the fourth industrial revolution. 70.2% 

of the research respondents argue that for women to advance in technology so as to be 

mainstreamed in the fourth IR that affirmatively in the fact that women mainstreaming 

in the fourth industrial revolution is very crucial. 

 

 Furthermore, 65.5% stressed that with technology women can find solutions to 

unpredictable social-political, and gender problems. The respondents agreed that 

technology is a veritable tool in the fourth industrial revolution and it will be better used 

by women to bridge the gender gap. Consequently, 70.4% of them confirmed of 

technologically poor women in the fourth industrial revolution. This shows that without 

the majority of women been techy in the fourth industrial revolution which is the way 

the world is going then the gender gap will be further widened and women will be left 

behind again in the fourth industrial revolution as in the previous industrial revolutions. 

Therefore, technologically poor women will be left behind in the wheel of progress in 

the IR as the statement.  

 

 Exclusion, on the other hand, is referred to as an extension of gender inequality which 

expresses the roles the society and culture ascribes to male and female in social situations 

and institutions needs to be revisited by those interested in peace and security issues in 

our contemporary times based on biological determinism. It is on this kind of the 

biological exclusion which has implications on the number of women in policy making 

circles especially in the security sector ((Danjibo 2013), and (Nwolise 2014). This may 

be inevitable in the fourth industrial revolution   According to Nona (2013) around the 

globe the potentials of mothers have thus far been neglected in counter-terrorism strategy 

for peace Women have their roles to play because they are more peaceful in nature but 

the fact that they are not equal with men in governance, peace, and security development 

cumulate in insecurity around the world and Nigeria (Nwolise 2014).  

 

Summary 
In traditional African society, it is not in the best interest of women to be childless, or 

widows, or fugitives, or refugees, or captives of war because the society dehumanizes in 

some extreme cases ostracized such women. For this reason, African women play 

significant roles in nurturing societies aside from their caring nature. This largely informs 

their commitment to peace and conflict, yet women are rarely opportune to contribute to 

peace initiatives in their society due to cultural practices and gender conjectures Emordi 

2018).  

 



 

 

88 | P a g e  

 

 

However, the struggle for gender equality has been one of the hallmarks of the 20th c 

feminists and women empowerment stakeholders.  Since the first wave of feminism to 

date much has been achieved but a lot still remained undone as the agenda remains 

unfinished especially in Nigeria Much is yet to be achieved in mainstreaming women in 

science and technology.  The United Nations' celebration of the International Women's 

Day in 1975 was an occasion to stand together to advance gender equality around the 

world. This equality is yet to be evident in STEM and technological applications than 

any other area. Women are more analog than their male counterparts. Most of the new 

technological equipment such as phones, remote control, laptops, and other technological 

appliances women use are managed by their digital children and their male 

relatives.  Today, technology has advanced from quantum physicists to artificial 

intelligence yet women are still grappling to understand the use of basic personal 

technological equipment. The increase in the number of women academics over the past 

60 years has increased these gender differences in the used tech but much is yet to be 

achieved for women to be relevant in the technological ecosystem of the fourth industrial 

revolution. The findings of this survey expressly revealed that in the fourth industrial 

revolution women will be marginalized further if they are not mainstreamed in science 

and technology and will be left behind if urgent and effective action is not taken to 

mainstream women in science and technology in Nigeria. 

 

Furthermore, 65.5%stressed with technology women can find solutions to unpredictable 

social political and gender problems. The respondents agreed that technology will a 

veritable tool in the fourth industrial revolution and it will be better used by women to 

bridge the gender gap. Consequently, 70.4% of them confirmed technologically poor 

women in the fourth industrial revolution will be left behind in the wheel of progress. 

This shows that without the majority of women been techy in the fourth industrial 

revolution which is the way the world is going then the gender gap will be further 

widened.  

o Way forward 
o Since women can conveniently use their personal basic their basic technological 

equipment  

o The government need to create means of managing those things that distract from 

science and technology to enable them concentrate on techy needs. 

o Women have been found to multiple tasks and this is also one of the banes of women 

in STEM. To this end, women need to be trained to focus a few things and be 

encouraged by their husbands even as they space the birth of their children and train 

to be independent  

o Engaging women in science and technology will help to solve many of the peace 

and security quagmires the world especially Nigeria is facing today. Everything must 

be done to have women mainstreamed in STEM now. 



 

 

89 | P a g e  

 

 

o Women, must as a matter of necessity encourage their female children to go into 

science related courses. 

o Government, and stakeholders making efforts to bridge the wide gap in STEM 

should endeavor to train young female children to compete favorably in STEM, 

o Women who are already empowered should encourage fellow women in the lower 

rung of the ladder to in science  

o Women, stakeholders of women mainstreaming in science and technology should 

make use effectiveness of technology to connect millions and millions of women all 

over the world to be involved in STEM. As we saw it happen with the black life 

matters’ campaign in the wake of police brutality and death of George Floyd in the 

USA.  

o Women were discovered to be distracted by a lot of factors which in reality affect 

both imputes and outputs of women in science and technology. 

o The UN through UNDP should ensure to reduce multi tasks for women moving 

towards STEM without the society shaming them. Women are engaged in multiple 

tasks such as marriage, husbands, and children sometimes because culture and 

society pressure them to do so and this in turn reduce their interest in STEM. 

o The effectiveness of legislation cannot be over-emphasized for Nigeria and other 

states to achieve positive improvement in STEM. Therefore there is need for 

legislation to support and encourage women to embrace technology in the emerging 

fourth industrial revolution. 

 

 

 

 

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