Speak Wednesday
WOMEN IN LABOUR FORCE IN NIGERIA
One of the most striking phenomena of
recent times has been the extent to which women have increased their share of
the labour force; the increasing participation of women in paid work has been
driving employment trends and the gender gaps in labour force participation
rates have been shrinking. Especially in the 1980s and early 1990s, labour
force growth was substantially higher for women than for men for every region
of the world except Africa. (UNPD, 2003). This problem is particularly marked
in Northern Africa and the Arab States, where unemployment rates for women
exceed 16%. (ILO, 2017).
While vulnerable employment is widespread
for both women and men, women tend to be overrepresented in certain types of
vulnerable jobs: men are more likely to be working in own-account employment
while women are more likely to be helping out in their households or in their
relatives’ businesses. From an economic perspective, reducing gender gaps in
labour force participation could substantially boost global Gross domestic
product (GDP). The regions with the largest gender gaps would see huge growth
benefits. Many developed countries would also see their average annual GDP
growth increase, which is significant during times of near-zero economic
growth. (ILO, 2017).
A report by PwC Nigeria on “Impact of Women
on Nigeria’s Economy” in 2020, have it that Nigeria ranked 128th out of 153
countries and 27th out of 53 countries in Africa, on the World Bank’s Global
Gender Gap Index 2020. This means, Nigeria has a lot to do to curtail this. 2019
statistics by the World Bank reveals that women accounts for 48.52 per cent of
labor force participation in Nigeria. Despite this figure, only about 12% of directors
on corporate boards of directors are women. It is discouraging to know that
since the history of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), there has been no woman
leader.
The relatively lower economic position of
women vis-a-vis men can be attributed to some of the prevailing factors such
as:
1)
The historical discrimination against
women in terms of output.
2)
The high rate of urbanization which is
unmatched by the rate of urban demand for labor in the modern sector of the
economy.
3)
Low level of female educational attainment
and skills which restrict their entry into modern employment.
4)
The case of entry into informal sector
activities such as petty trading with little capital outlay, flexibility of
working hours and the ability to accommodate domestic roles as well as the
independence attached to such activities.
5)
The widespread assumption that women’s
roles in the household are supportive, hence their contributions and rewards in
gainful employment are expected to be merely supplementary to those of the
males who are supposed to be the bread winners. (Fadayomi, T., 1991)
The data is clear: women want to be in
paid employment, but a persistent set of socio-economic barriers keep them out
of the workforce. However, identifying and quantifying these barriers allows us
to develop smarter policy responses for eliminating them.
Ultimately, closing gender gaps in the
labour force is not just good for women and their households, but for the
global economy as a whole.
