Gender equality has been linked to better development outcomes, including higher GDP and productivity, and faster economic growth. Both equality in outcomes (labor force participation, employment, entrepreneurship, political representation) and opportunities (legal rights, access to education, health and finance) matter for current and future development outcomes. Gender gaps in economic participation restrict the talent pool in the labor market, they therefore yield a less efficient allocation of resources, lower total factor productivity, and reduce output growth.

Globally, some progress on women’s rights has been achieved. However, work still needs to be done in Nigeria to achieve gender equality. Global rankings have consistently placed Nigeria within groups of low performers in terms of gender equality, with opportunities for improvement in a wide range of areas. Among 146 countries, Nigeria ranks 130th on the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index, with particularly low relative scores on educational attainment and political representation. Within the 10-year period of 2014 and 2023, Nigeria’s gender index has stayed between 62% and 64%. Signifying little or no improvement in closing the gap.

Nigeria is among the 10% of countries worldwide that exhibit the highest levels of gender discrimination according to the OECD’s Social Institutions and Gender Index, with an assessment of “high” or “very high” in all of the evaluated categories (discriminatory family code, restricted physical integrity, son bias, restricted resources and assets, restricted civil liberties). It also falls into the group of countries with highest gender inequality in human development outcomes.