Abstract:

The study examined the exposure of young girls to street harassment in urban centres of Nigeria and implications for incidence of HIV/AIDS and economic empowerment. A ‘non-participatory direct observation approach coupled with quantitative secondary data was used. Quantitative data was extracted from a pan-Nigeria survey of street traders sponsored by Covenant University, Nigeria. Target population consisted of young girls below the age of 25 years who trade on the street. Only the girls data (n = 553) was extracted and analysed for this study. The findings among other shows that few of the girls are below the age of 15 years, 57.3 percent had only secondary education and 14.0 were living in mud or mobile homes. The study also revealed that girls in younger ages (10-14 and 15-19 years) are 1.724 and 1.111 times more likely to be harassed compared to the other girls but self-employed girls may likely enjoy ‘immunity’ from harassment. The authors conclude that the large number of girls in developing countries could be harnessed for formidable productive work force and healthy mothers of tomorrow. The study posits that exposure of girls to harassment increase the propensity for higher HIV/AIDS incidence in Nigeria and other sub-Saharan African countries. A proactive hawking measure should therefore be put in place to control the activities of the traders and enhance their full integration for effective economic empowerment of the girls and women in general.