Abstract

The study was aimed at bringing to light the knowledge unique to women and its usefulness to social, political and economic development in Nigeria. The objectives of the study were to context the traditional epistemology which thrived on masculinity; to maintained that women could do critical thinking to produce knowledge, and prove that there is a pattern of knowing unique to women.

Due to the nature of the questions the study sought to answer, it adopted secondary data by exploring existing texts and opinions on feminism, gender, epistemology, feminist epistemology, and Nigeria’s socio- political economy. And through philosophical methods of conceptual clarification, the data which were gotten from previous studies were analysed.

The study found, among other things, that there is indeed gender bias in the traditional epistemology by the use of ‘man’ as  a general term to describe human beings, and that there is a pattern of knowledge unique to women, quite visible in their maternal nature. This way of knowledge, the study concluded, has a lot to contribute to nation building.