Exploring the Prevalence of Gender Inequality in the Nigerian Civil Service

Abstract

The study explores how gender inequality exists in the Nigerian civil service. It adopts a convenience sampling technique where semi-structured interviews were administered to 27 civil servants in the Federal Territory of Abuja. Based on content- and consistency-based analysis, the researchers classified three emerging categories as exogenous, endogenous, and exo-endogenous factors. These factors further unravelled the emerging subcategories of each of the factors that included (1) the deficit in Education, (2) religion, (3) the civil service administration, (4) sex appeal as a criterion, (5) marriage and childbearing and (6) culture. With a consistency rate of 87.88%, the participants suggested that female education deficits constitute one factor that influences women’s employment. About 80.95% and 63.89% suggested that religion and civil service have negatively impacted female labour participation in the civil service. We concluded that women were not specifically employed in the civil service on the principle of gender equality or because the government intended to explore and benefit from their potential. The study recommended that there should be an enactment law that warrants fair practice in the civil service by removing any exclusions undermining women’s ability in decision-making and having equal access to various employment opportunities.