Gender inequality and appointment to leadership positions in Nigerian tertiary institutions

Abstract

The role of women in nation building has continued to attract global attention. That is why issues bordering on inequality are often addressed, as well as all forms of discrimination against women. In Nigeria, gender imbalance particularly dominance of men is very well reflected in academic employment in the tertiary institutions. The study sought to find out the gender composition of academic female staff on leadership positions in ten tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The ex- post facto research design was used, the population for the study comprised of all academic staff of the tertiary institutions. The main source of data collection was from the planning and statistics department National University Commission, Abuja. Frequency counts and percentage scores were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that there was gross inequality in the leadership positions in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. The percentage of women in the upper echelon of the institutions was very low and representation of women at the academic management position was poor. It was recommended among others that more women should be encouraged to pursue academic leadership positions.

Keywords: Gender, Leadership position, Academic staff, Tertiary Institution; Inequality