Gender and Labour Force Participation in Nigeria

Abstract

This paper examines existing data on the
status of women and men in the area of
work and labour force participation and
underlines the disparities as a constituent
of current life in Nigeria. Removing the
obstacles and inequalities that women
face regarding employment is a step
towards realizing their potential in the
economy and enhancing their contribution
to economic and social development.
Obtainable statistics have been reviewed
for the ten year period between 2007 and
2016. Since the National Population
Commission puts the number of women
and men at about equal in the Nigerian
population, therefore, one would normally
have been perfectly safe to presuppose
equivalent involvement in the labour
force. However, National Bureau of
Statistics (2017) in its Labour Force
Participation Rate entirely opposes this
hypothesis. For the ten year period
reviewed in this paper, the average labour
force participation rate (LFPR) was 64.3 

percent for women and 74.2 percent for
men. In 2016, the national labor force
participation rate of women and men in
the ages 15-64 years was 74.7 percent.
The proportion of men was 82.6 percent
while women accounted for 78.4 percent.
Collectively, women do as much work as
men if not more but the natures of work
plus the circumstances under which they
work and their access to prospect for
development varies from men.