By Nnasom David

A coalition of gender equality advocates, the Nigeria Women in Leadership (WIL) Cohort, is calling on Nigeria’s private sector and labour policymakers to take urgent, measurable action to end the systemic exclusion of women from formal employment.

The demand follows new data from the Women in the Workplace 2024 report published by McKinsey & Company, showing that women hold just 1 in 3 entry-level roles in Nigeria’s private sector.  According to the analysed gender representation data from 65 companies in Nigeria, Kenya, and India, McKinsey found that in Nigeria, women hold only 33% of entry-level private sector jobs, despite being nearly half the workforce.

The data paints a sober picture of the challenges facing Nigerian women in formal employment. While women make up nearly half of the country’s labour force, their representation in private sector jobs remains alarmingly low, dropping even further as they move up the ladder. In the finance sector, Women’s representation drops by 19 percentage points between entry-level and executive roles.

“This report speaks to what many Nigerian women already know. The real problem starts from the entry-level hiring process” says Omowunmi Akingbohungbe, Executive Director of Women In Management and Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ). “If we are serious about growth, we need to build systems that ensure women get equal opportunity from the start and the relevant support to help them rise. Companies that fail to harness the full talent pool are holding themselves back.”

Civil society advocates are calling on Nigerian companies to take bold, measurable action on workplace gender equity starting with gender-equal entry-level hiring targets and report on the progress publicly. They also called on the government and regulatory bodies to create better policies to ensure women’s advancement in the workplace, in order to compel greater compliance.

“There is an urgent need to review and strengthen Nigeria’s labour policies to protect women from discrimination, ensure equal pay for equal work, and enforce maternity protections and safe, inclusive work environments.”said Abosede George-Ogan, founder of Women in Successful Careers (WISCAR). “Existing laws must be updated to reflect the realities faced by women in today’s workforce.”

“Although 29% of C-suite roles in Nigeria’s formal private sector are held by women, a figure that compares well globally, advocates argue that this masks a deeper crisis,” says Shirley Ewang, Advocacy Lead at Gatefield. “Too few women are being hired into formal roles in the first place, and even fewer are supported to advance.”