Deconstructing deficit in development discourses: young rural women in Northern Nigeria navigating work and education

Abstract

<p dir="ltr">Dominant development discourses typically assume a staged progression between schooling, work and motherhood, constructing in deficit those whose lives deviate from this pathway. This paper offers a counter-narrative to such Eurocentric discourses by drawing on recent qualitative research into how young women in rural contexts of north-east Nigeria navigated the demands of work, family and education. Using participatory visual methods, it engaged two groups of young women (one Christian and one Muslim) in a series of workshops focused on the challenges they confronted daily. Most also participated in individual life history interviews. The young women’s narratives vividly portrayed how they actively navigated the multiple, competing and concurrent demands of education, work and family within rural contexts of deep poverty and patriarchy. The analysis highlights the importance of in-depth qualitative research into livelihood trajectories of young people in the Global South that pays attention to difference, rather than constructing deficit.