We
now move to analytic conflict theory which is one of the feminist theories that is
women-centered; one of the starting points of all its investigation is the
situation or the situation and experiences of women in society. Here, the proponent Chafetz ( 1999) focuses
on gender inequality or, as she labels it; “sex stratification”. She explores
the social structures and conditions that affect the intensity of sex
stratification, or the disadvantaging of women in all societies and cultures as
it seeks to describe the social world from the distinctive vantage points of
women which Demetriou (2002), Huber
(2004) and Skelton (2005) described as a cross-cultural and trans-historical;
theorizing gender in all its particular societal patterning.
And these include
gender role differentiation, patriarchal ideology, family and work
organization, framing conditions such as fertility patterns, separation of
household and work sites, economic surplus, technological sophistication,
population density, and environmental harshness, all understood as variables. The
interaction of these variables determines the degree of sex stratification,
because they frame the key structures of household and economic production and
degree to which women move between the two areas. Analytic conflict theory as
it is, emphasis the very variables that deal with the situation of women in the
developing nations like Nigeria, containing Ebonyi state.
In most African
nations, the position of women in certain areas are very clear, especially in
the rural areas. The participation of
women in quarry mines could be linked to the structural positioning of
these women, who have only the alternatives presented to them. And from gender
perspective of quarry mining in the developing countries, women face the health
hazards and health degenerations which are attached to their involvement in
this kind of job activities. And most of these health problems are marginally
addressed. These women are equally easy prey to the contractors, mining
officials and other mineworkers, who sexually exploit them. These poor rural
women in the developing nations could
for fear of further harassment and loss of employment not report sexual
exploitation ( Machipisa 1999; Matozi 2003 )