Stakeholders have advocated actionable strategies that enhance women’s representation in economic leadership roles in the country. The stakeholders resolved the need to tailor initiatives from mentorship and training programmes at entry levels to organisational policies supporting work-life balance at mid-career stages.

They stated this at a Stakeholder’s Roundtable on Women in Economic Leadership in Nigeria. The roundtable organised by the Policy Innovation Centre (PIC), in partnership with Co-Impact gathered key figures from government, civil society, and the private sector, including Director of Lagos State Women Affairs, Mrs. Shyllon Olufunke and President of the Nigerian Economic Society, Prof. Adeola Adenikinju.
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PIC Executive Director, Osasuyi Dirisu lamented that women are grossly underrepresented in the economic sectors in Nigeria recommending the need to have sustainable and balanced development. She stated that there is need to design programmes that can promote institutional change such that better policies that can create a policy enabling environment.

“To increase representation of women, ensure that we have more women in leadership, encourage women who are already in leadership or aspiring to leadership to have that workspace, organisational environment that supports them to pursue and succeed in a career in economics, the government has to ensure that policies created are functioning to have increased representation of women in economic sectors.”

Regional Director Africa, Co-Impact, Mary Wandia suggested that innovative strategies that can be collaborated on to transform the culture, the policies and practices of institutions in economics in Nigeria should be adopted in order to remove barriers that are preventing women from entering, thriving and rising in economic leadership.

Olufunke called on stakeholders to recognise challenges faced by women with disabilities in their efforts to advance gender equality. She acknowledged the progress made by the public sector through various interventions but stressed that there is still much more to be done. While Prof. Adenikinju in his keynote address pointed out that while 50 per cent of the Ministry of Finance leaders have been women, only one woman has served as Chief Economic Adviser to the President. He called for the urgent need for policy reforms to address these barriers and increase female representation in economic leadership.

In her key findings, Gender Research Specialist at the Policy Innovation Centre, Dr. Mary Jimoh highlighted several critical barriers to women’s economic leadership in Nigeria. She noted that societal expectations, gender roles, workplace stereotypes, and the abyssmal implementation of gender policies continue to limit women’s advancement in Economic Leadership. “Women in Nigeria are powerful agents of economic transformation but they require an environment that not only recognises their potential but actively facilitates their path to leadership,” she said.

Recommendations from the study include facilitating peer mentoring and networking opportunities to enable knowledge-sharing and support among women at similar career stages. At the policy level, it called for platforms like the Nigerian Economic Society and the Nigerian University Council to mandate the implementation of gender-equitable policies within organisations in Nigeria.
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