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Exploring female roles and
gender norms in Nigeria

Nigeria is set to become one of the “Next Eleven” biggest economies in the world. It’s already the Giant of Africa, and home to the third-largest youth population in the world. And yet, it’s a market that remains poorly understood.

A quick Google search reveals a bleak image of Nigeria, one in which 27% of women aged 15 to 49 were victims of FGM in 2012, in which gender discrimination remains legal. Research by Oxfam in 2018 revealed four social norms: that a respectable woman marries early, is submissive to male authority, is not promiscuous, and is worth more as a wife than a daughter. These facts represent an unfortunate reality for many women in Nigeria, but they don’t show us what’s to come.

We wanted to understand the cultural and societal shifts that are already emerging as economic growth takes root in Nigeria. In particular, with everything we read about gender inequality in the country, we wanted to know what it really means to be a young woman in Nigeria in 2020 – to what extent gender norms are still relevant and prevalent, and to what extent women might be reshaping those norms.

So – we ran two WhatsApp communities with women in Nigeria aged 20-30. First, we heard from women in the North and South, then after reflecting on that community, ran a second with women from North Nigeria only. This second community was a chance to dig deeper into the more religious and conservative and generally harder-to-reach audience in that region.

Our sample was diverse; we met university students and poultry farmers, stay-at-home mums and textile sellers. Here’s what we learned:

 
 
 
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Familial roles are core to female identity, but women are frustrated that these roles are consistently undervalued by men

Women in Nigeria aspire to be good daughters. This means meeting the high expectations of their mothers – in helping with the chores and cooking, in setting an example for younger siblings.

At this lifestage, a young woman is a “mother-in-waiting”: helping her own mother around the house will give her the skills to take the “natural” next step in becoming a mother herself. Indeed, we heard the role of a daughter described as being an ‘assistant mother’.

“If I’m cooking and it’s not done in 30 minutes, my family will start complaining, ‘Esther, I hope you won’t try this when you’re married!’”

To be a good mother is also aspirational. Women take pride in this role, as ‘the backbone of the family’. Mothers manage every aspect of the household, from the children’s upbringing to the maintenance of the house itself. Overall, they’re responsible for the moral, spiritual and physical wellbeing of the family.

In gender theory, this type of care-giving, domestic work is termed ‘reproductive labour’ and traditionally falls to women. Its foil is ‘productive labour’: the production of goods or services, traditionally associated with men. In a capitalist system, productive labour is valued over reproductive, because it generates income.

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We heard much frustration amongst the young women in our sample, that a woman’s role in the family is consistently undervalued:

“Women are looked down upon, not treated the way they should be, and restricted from acquiring material things unlike men.”

This sentiment is particularly strong in the South; women bemoan the ‘laziness’ of men for not helping around the house. In the North, gender roles are more fixed and traditional. Influenced by Sharia, women are more likely to aspire to be submissive wives and to not want their husbands to help maintain the household. They’re also more likely to be financially constrained by their husbands, and given just enough money to run the household.

Nevertheless, across both regions, the fact that reproductive labour is undervalued means that women turn to productive labour as means for empowerment.

 
 
 

Barred from male spheres,

women seek empowerment

through entrepreneurship

 
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The formal economy is a largely male domain in Nigeria. Women perceive that official structures of employment are ‘centred around men’, and that securing jobs within these structure requires connections that only men have. Only a few of the more affluent women we met from the South were pursuing white-collar careers – and even then, without connections, the road ahead was long and would involve years of postgraduate study. They, along with female politicians and CEOs, are seen as the exception, not the rule.

Instead, women are much more likely to work in the informal economy or pink-collar roles. Those in our sample were running small stores, teaching English, tailoring clothes, selling fabrics, rearing poultry, touting baked goods. And they all saw these activities as opportunities for empowerment and independence:

“My hope for the next few years is to have my business up and running smoothly. I should be a big madam with cool cash by then, living comfortably and happy with my family.”

Whether wanting to eventually own an English school, or to grow a textiles business into a fashion brand, young women in Nigeria aspire to become successful entrepreneurs. As entrepreneurs, they have full ownership of their success and financial gain, as well as their time – so that they can also be great mothers and look after their household.

When women’s reproductive labour in the home is consistently undervalued by the men around them, this quest for empowerment and independence via productive labour becomes all the more meaningful:

“I don’t want to be a liability and depend on my husband for everything I need. To earn respect from one’s partner and to have a say in your marriage, you have to have your own money.”
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How are young women

in Nigeria negotiating

gender norms in 2021?

 
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The four social norms identified by Oxfam in 2018 emphasise gender roles in the family, whereby a woman is first a daughter, then a wife. Indeed, gender roles are important to young women in Nigeria: they aspire to fulfil such roles in their dreams of being good mothers, of success in pink-collar work and the informal economy.

But even if women’s aspirations lie within “female” spheres of productive labour, they still challenge existing gender norms. Women see their empowerment outside of the home as a means to empower themselves inside of it as well. While undervalued as mothers for their reproductive labour, by becoming the bill payer or even the breadwinner, they can be valued for their productive labour. Though less so in the North, we therefore see that young women are less content to be made out as the ‘weaker sex’ by men around them, and less comfortable with submitting to male authority.

Like this, young women in Nigeria are creating a vision of gender in which the roles of men and women, though understood to be fundamentally different, are valued with something closer to parity. And since women’s means to empowerment are financial, it’ll be fascinating to see how this cultural shift develops as Nigeria’s economy grows.

 
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Interested in social and gender norms in developing markets? Talk to us.

We work internationally, uncovering insights in 60+ countries across the world. We’re adept at unpicking cultural nuance, and applying cultural theory and semiotic analysis. To find out more, contact lynsey@basisresearch.co.uk.

 
 
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Written by Zoe Liu, Associate Director (Cultural Insight) at Basis

 
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