Women in Nigeria

Child marriage is quite common in Nigeria, with 43% of girls being married before their 18th birthday, and 17% before they turn 15.[7] The prevalence, however, varies greatly by region.[7] Nigeria's total fertility rate is 5.07 children/woman.[9] Nigeria's high fertility rate is associated with socio-economic problems and under-development.[10][11]

The role of women in Nigerian politics is shaped by the patriarchal nature of the society. This dense religious and tribal country provides the setting for the oppression Nigerian women face in politics and in everyday life.[12] Furthermore, the militaristic tendencies of Nigerian society are reflected in the way women are treated by the justice system in terms of sexual violence, corruption, and false imprisonment. Nonetheless, women in Nigeria have been able to come together in feminist movements, such as the Women in Nigeria (organization) (WIN) founded in 1982, to combat male supremacy in Nigeria and shape feminism as a force for Nigerian women.[13] Nigerian women did not gain their voting rights until relatively recently. The 1950's presented many debates regarding women's access to political responsibilities and their stance on voting rights in Nigeria. It was not until 1979 when all Nigerian women gained their voting rights. To this day, Nigerian women still rally and fight to further their political voice and representation.[14]

In The World's Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap report for 2018, Nigeria was ranked 139th out of a total 149 countries, in terms of gender gap in 'political empowerment'.[15] During 2015 Nigerian elections, Nigeria had 20 women out of 359 in its Lower House (5.6%) and 7 out of 109 in Upper House (6.4%). In Nigeria's 2019 elections, 7.3% of the Nigerian Senate and 3.1% of the House of Representatives are women. There are no state governors that are women.[16] There are no laws implemented to improve the gender gap. In 2014, the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC) and the Nigerian Women Trust Fund (NWTF) outlined “Nigerian Women Charter of Demand” that demanded to have 35% of women incorporated in all sectors of government. The barriers to women participation in politics are largely due to attitudes to gender, negative attitude towards to women in leadership. In particular, female candidates often suffer from election violence, threats or hate speech. Political parties have excluded women, and do little to encourage the participation.

To help increase the number of women working in the government, The Nigerian Women’s Trust Fund (NWTF) uses funding, networking opportunities, mentoring, training for leadership, and advocacy. It is supported by the Ministry of Women Affairs and Social Development (MWASD), UN Women.[17][18][19]

Women in Nigeria face many challenges when interacting with political life, one of them being societal tradition.[20] Nigeria is dominated by Christianity and Islam which, despite neither directly supporting gender discrimination or marginalization, provide the societal framework by which many women are unable to access support due to social issues such as traditional beliefs, military dictatorship, tribal uprisings, and more. It is normal to find Nigerian women confined to the household, required to please their husbands because divorce is highly looked down upon in the Islam tradition. A successful marriage, in most cases, means that a woman is to provide sex at her husband's demand. Nigerian women are traditionally expected to be nurturing mothers, daughters and sisters, societal roles that find themselves in the household caring for children, or preforming minor tasks such as selling crafts. This stereotypical role is tied to the reason why many Nigerian men view women as inferior and do not support their participation in government.[21]

Women were elected as "special members" of the Nigerian Western assembly during the country's early years of pushing towards a federal system. The electoral system was made up of three colleges, the first being Villages, second the Intermediary Electoral College of Districts, and finally the College of the Divisions. Deputies were elected at the first two levels by taxpaying male and female voters. The highest electoral college was elected through a secret ballot. The voting system of elections provided a prime opportunity for clientelism to come into play. Women could not rise higher than the first electoral college because they did not have support from traditionally minded men and not all voting women had the means to support them through the taxpaying suffrage system thus the whole system privileged men aiming higher. Because of the near impossibility of women gaining representation in government, the men of the 1950s requested for women to have one of the three seats reserved for special members (being underrepresented communities). Elizabeth Adekogbe, a Nigerian women's rights leader born in 1919, argued that this seat was not so much of a step forward as it appeared to be. Rather than giving women a real voice in government it gave men the opportunity to choose a women who aligned with their beliefs and use her as a guise for reform. She critiqued the fact that women would be viewed as a separate minority group rather than full members of society. In 1953, this position was filled by Mrs Remilekun Iseoluwa Aiyedun, a member of the protestant church who in-fact criticized this appointment claiming that a women's responsibility remained in the household rather than in political activity.[22]

The Nigerian parliament denied the passing of several gender bills in 2022 resulting in a protest of many Nigerian women at the countries capital. Nigerian legislature voted to amend the controversial 199 constitution which surfaced during the transition to democracy that same year. This would help serve to correct historical imbalances of women in electoral politics. If passed, these bills would have allowed foreign born husbands of Nigerian women to gain citizenship, and given women the right to become indigenes of their husband’s state after five years of marriage. An interesting parallel to the fact that wives of Nigerian men are granted citizenship upon marriage. There was also discussion of allotting 35% of the legislative seats to women, and reserving 35% of political party leadership, for women. None of these bills were passed which shows the deep rooted conservative tradition of the Nigerian government. This was a major step backwards for female Nigerian lawmakers, activists, and citizens alike.[23]

Agriculture plays a major role in Nigeria's economy contributing a quarter of the gross domestic product. The Nigerian government has promised to allocate 10% of the annual budget to agriculture but have not followed through. Women smallholder farmers are especially overlooked though they make up 70% of the work force and produce 60% of the food Nigerians depend on.[24] These women farmers play important roles in averting major threats such as resource conservation, food scarcity, while maintaining a healthy and functional ecosystem. They suffer from poor living conditions and have little say in development initiatives. Many times women like this have to rely on men to advance their social status when they are in fact the ones contributing to Nigeria's economy.[20] One modern example of success, however, can be found in the Smallholder Women Farmers Organization in Nigeria. With the help of the International Budget Partnership, an organization working to promote inclusive sustainable development that promote equity and justice, and data driven advocacy, these women succeed securing an 18.5% increase the national government increased its spending. As a result, 111,000 smallholder women farmers were given new or improved seeds and fertilizer to grow crops, more modern equipment to increase production.[24]

Female genital cutting (also known as female genital mutilation) in Nigeria accounts for a significant portion of female genital cutting/mutilation (FGM/C) cases, worldwide.[25] The practice is considered harmful to girls and women and a violation of human rights.[26] FGM causes infertility, maternal death, infections, and the loss of sexual pleasure.[27]

Nationally, 27% of Nigerian women between the ages of 15 and 49 were victims of FGM, as of 2012.[28] In the last 30 years, prevalence of the practice has decreased by half in some parts of Nigeria.[26] It was reported that about one fourth of Nigerian women reported having ever experienced intimate partner violence (IPV) as of 2013.[29] Studies carried on the prevalence of IPV in four Geo-political zones of Nigeria indicated that South East had 78.8%,[30] North had 42%,[31] South South had 41%,[32] and South West had 29%.[33][29]

The 12 Muslim majority states in Nigeria's north where polygamy is legal.

12 out of the 36 Nigerian states recognize polygamous marriages as being equivalent to monogamous marriages. All twelve states are governed by Islamic Sharia Law. The States, which are all northern, include the states of Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Sokoto, Yobe, and Zamfara[59] which allows for a man to take more than one wife.[60]

Elsewhere, both Christians and traditionalists in polygamous unions are recognized by customary law. These unions are contingent upon the absence of prior civil marriage, as bigamy technically applies, but even when present, men are seldom ever prosecuted for bigamy in Nigeria.[61]

A national feminist movement was inaugurated in 1982,[71] and a national conference held at Ahmadu Bello University.[71] The papers presented there indicated a growing awareness by Nigeria's university-educated women that the place of women in society required a concerted effort and a place on the national agenda; the public perception, however, remained far behind.

As an example, a feminist meeting in Ibadan came out against polygamy and was then soundly criticized by market women, who said they supported the practice because it allowed them to pursue their trading activities and have the household looked after at the same time. Research in the north has indicated that many women opposed the practice, and tried to keep bearing children to stave off a second wife's entry into the household.[72] Although women's status would undoubtedly rise, for the foreseeable future Nigerian women lacked the opportunities of men.

Yinka Jegede-Ekpe, a Nigerian HIV/AIDS activist and HIV-positive individual, established the Nigerian Community of Women Living With HIV/AIDS in 2001. The group intended to inform women about the risks of HIV/AIDS and to empower them to speak out.[73]

In the north, practices that were introduced in terms of women's position in society have been mainly as a result of colonialism and the introduction of salafism and wahhabism thought into the traditionally sufist region.[74] This process has yielded, generally, less formal education; early teenage marriages, especially in rural areas; and confinement to the household, which was often polygamous, except for visits to family, ceremonies, and the workplace, if employment were available and permitted by a girl's family or husband. For the most part, Hausa women did not work in the fields, whereas Kanuri women did; both helped with harvesting and were responsible for all household food processing.

Urban women sold cooked foods, usually by sending young girls out onto the streets or operating small stands. Research indicated that this practice was one of the main reasons city women gave for opposing schooling for their daughters.[75] Even in elite houses with educated wives, women's presence at social gatherings was either nonexistent or very restricted. In the modern sector, a few women were appearing at all levels in offices, banks, social services, nursing, radio, television, and the professions (teaching, engineering, environmental design, law, pharmacy, medicine, and even agriculture and veterinary medicine).

This trend resulted from women's secondary schools, teachers' colleges, and in the 1980s women holding approximately one-fifth of university places—double the proportion of the 1970s. Research in the 1980s indicated that, for the Muslim north, education beyond primary school was restricted to the daughters of the business and professional elites, and in almost all cases, courses and professions were chosen by the family, not the woman themselves.

However, in the last few years, the rate of women's employment has apparently increased as more women have been employed in the modern sector. You find them as cashiers in the banks, teachers in public and private primary and secondary schools, nurses at hospitals as well as television hosts of different TV programs. Although, the issue of women not occupying top positions still remains a huge challenge all over the country and across all sectors as most of these positions are occupied by men with little opportunities for equally qualified women. In addition, young ladies deciding on courses and professions to choose from now have the full autonomy to do that in some households especially in the southern part of the country. However, the north still lags behind in these apparent changes due to cultural laws.

A Nigerian woman balancing market goods on her head

In the south, women traditionally had economically important positions in interregional trade and the markets, worked on farms as major labour sources, and had influential positions in traditional systems of local organization. The south, like the north, had been polygynous; in 1990 it still was for many households, including those professing Christianity.

Women in the south, had received Western-style education since the nineteenth century, so they occupied positions in the professions and to some extent in politics. In addition, women headed households, something not seriously considered in Nigeria's development plans. Such households were more numerous in the south, but they were on the rise everywhere.

• Amina J. Mohammed — Deputy Secretary-General of the U.N.[76]
• Gbemisola Ruqayyah Saraki- Politician and philanthropist.[77]
• Florence Ita Giwa — Politician.[78]
• Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala — Economist, First Female Minister of Finance
• Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, activist
• Dora Akunyili - Former Minister of Information and Communication, Former Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria.
• Kemi Adeosun - Minister of Finance (November 2015 - 2018)
• Beni Lar, Member of Nigeria's House of Representatives and women's advocate

• Bilikiss Adebiyi Abiola — Wecyclers CEO
• Folorunsho Alakija, Businesswoman
• Hajia Bola Shagaya - Businesswoman and Fashion Enthusiast
• Sola David-Borha, Chief Executive (Africa Region) of Standard Bank

• Agbani Darego — Model and Beauty Queen[79]
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie — Writer
• Chioma Akpotha — Actress & Film Maker
• Monalisa Chinda - Actress, film producer and TV personality
• Folake Coker — Fashion Designer, Creative Director of Tiffany Amber
• Funke Akindele — Actress
• Genevieve Nnaji — Actress
• Helen Paul — Comedian
• Ireti Doyle — Actress[80]
• Kiki Mordi – Media personality and journalist
• Aisha Salaudeen — Multimedia journalist
• Krystal Okeke – Ms. Illinois USA Universal 2016 and founder of America Multicultural Kids Fashion Show and Miss America Nation beauty pageant
• Mercy Chinwo - Singer, Songwriter & Actress
• Onyinye Ough, author and activist
• Osonye Tess Onwueme — Playwright[81]
• Mo Abudu, media personality
• Tiwa Savage - Entertainer
• Ufuoma McDermott — Actress & Film Maker
• Yemi Alade - Entertainer

• Catherine Obianuju Acholonu
• Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
• Onyinye Ough, author and activist

Notable scientists include:

• Ameyo Adadevoh - Nigerian physician
• Professor Grace Alele-Williams - Mathematician[82]
• Francisca Nneka Okeke - Physicist[82]
• Deborah Ajakaiye - Geophysicists[82]
• Olabisi Ugbebor - Mathematician[82]
• Adenike Osofisan - Computer Scientist[82]
• Folasade Ogunsola - Medical Scientist[82]
• Chinedum Peace Babalola - Pharmacist[82]
• Lucy Jumeyi Ogbadu - Microbiologist[82]
• Eucharia Oluchi Nwaichi, Ph.D - Environmental Biochemist[82]
• Stella Ifeanyi Smith, Ph.D - Microbiologist[82]

• Factors associated with attitudes towards intimate partner violence against women: a comparative analysis of 17 sub-Saharan countries [1]
• Intimate partner violence and reproductive health of women [2]
• Intimate Partner Abuse: Wife Beating among Civil Servants in Ibadan, Nigeria [3]
• Intimate Partner Violence among Women in a Migrant Community in Southwest Nigeria [4]
• Intimate Partner Violence: Prevalence and Perceptions of Married Men in Ibadan, Nigeria [5]
• Influence of Community Social Norms on Spousal Violence: A Population-Based Multilevel Study of Nigerian Women [6]