Gender, Leadership and the Limits of Law in Nigeria

Okongwu, Onyeka C. (2026) Gender, Leadership and the Limits of Law in Nigeria. In: Gender, Law and Development. Acena Publishers. (Accepted for Publication)

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Abstract

Women’s under-representation in leadership and senior management positions remains a persistent feature of gender inequality in Nigeria. While constitutional and statutory provisions formally prohibit discrimination, the existing equality framework is grounded largely in a model of formal equality centred on individualised instances of differential treatment. This chapter argues that such a framework is ill-equipped to address structural forms of exclusion that operate through institutional design, cultural norms, and religiously embedded hierarchies of authority.
Adopting a primarily doctrinal methodology informed by socio-legal insights, the chapter analyses constitutional guarantees, labour legislation, international commitments, and the jurisprudence of the National Industrial Court in order to evaluate the capacity of Nigerian law to respond to systemic gendered disadvantage. It demonstrates that non-justiciability, limited horizontal application, the absence of comprehensive employer duties, and reactive enforcement mechanisms constrain the transformative potential of equality law.
The chapter argues that addressing women’s exclusion from leadership requires a shift toward substantive equality that engages institutional power structures and permits context-sensitive corrective measures. Reframing equality in this manner situates leadership not merely as a question of employment representation but as a matter of governance and development. Without confronting the structural conditions that shape access to authority, formal guarantees of equality will remain disconnected from women’s participation in decision-making and from Nigeria’s broader developmental aspirations.

Item Type:	Book Section
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Business, Law and Criminology > School of Law and Criminology
Depositing User:	Onyeka Okongwu
Date Deposited:	22 May 2026 09:14
Last Modified:	22 May 2026 09:14
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4907

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