The participation of women in political and leadership positions in Nigeria has declined, according to a recent global report by the World Economic Forum (WEF) on gender parity for key positions. The report rates Nigeria as one of the countries with the lowest levels of women’s participation worldwide.

The World Economic Forum’s annual Global Gender Gap Index report assesses gender parity in economic participation, educational attainment, health, and political empowerment.

Despite Nigeria’s modest gains in women’s participation in some spheres, the data underscores a persistent and troubling imbalance. Over the past year, improvements in economic indicators have contrasted sharply with setbacks in government representation and policy-making roles for women. Analysts point to cultural and systemic barriers as key factors hindering progress, noting that the overall gender gap remains wide, particularly in the political domain, where advancement has not kept pace with economic changes.

The situation places Nigeria at a crossroads, with progress in some areas shadowed by regression in others. Recent data reveal that while economic opportunities for women have expanded, the corridors of political power remain largely inaccessible. This juxtaposition highlights a complex landscape where educational and economic gains struggle to translate into tangible shifts in governance and public policy. Efforts to redress this imbalance must therefore address not only access to opportunities but also the entrenched social norms and institutional challenges that constrain women’s participation at the highest levels of leadership.

As the longest-running index, having tracked the progress of numerous countries’ efforts to close these gaps since its inception in 2006, Saadia Zahidi, the Managing Director, World Economic Forum, explained that the organisation has engaged with leading representatives of government, international organisations, academic experts and civil society in shaping economies and societies that create economic opportunity for all.

She noted that the essence of the report “Work on Gender Parity aims to provide consistent measurement of the global gender gap, identify best practices, enable exchange and dialogue between leaders, support the implementation of the most promising solutions, and mobilise collective action to accelerate gender parity.

“The Centre’s Gender Parity Accelerators support national efforts to scale policies and business-led strategies to improve women’s representation in the workforce and in leadership – and pay equity. The Lighthouse Programme brings together best
practices from organisations that have achieved significant, quantifiable and sustained impact for under-represented groups”, she said.

In the report which also examines the performance of other countries in allowing women representation in the critical positions, the Global Gender Gap
Report 2025 explained that although Nigeria has majority of male population, the women inclusion in labour force has increased above the last year record.

However, it indicated that despite the rise of female participation in economic strength of the country, the country’s performance has degraded on empowering women to hold political positions, as the country ranks 143rd out of 144 countries in the 2025 Global Gender Gap Report for women’s political participation, marking its lowest position in five years
The report partly reads, “Trending towards having a majority male population, Nigeria ranks 124th in 2025, having closed 64.9% of its overall gender gap yet losing one rank and –1.0 percentage points in score compared to last year’s edition of the index. Nigeria records improved scores in Economic Participation and Opportunity, registering a +3.6-point improvement from last year.

“Across economic parity indicators, there are positive developments – most notably, parity in in labour-force participation rises from 89.9% to 95.6% after female participation grew to its highest recorded levels, and income parity increases from 50.1% to 60.4% after female income resumes an upward slope after a four-year slump.
These developments place Nigeria on an encouraging trajectory for workforce parity; however, Nigeria’s performance fails to advance in the other three subindexes, with the most significant regression occurring in Political Empowerment (-2.9 points) due to diminished representation of women in ministerial positions, which declines from 17.6% in 2024 to 8.8% in 2025.

“In Educational Attainment, while literacy rates increase overall for both men and women, male rates (73.7%) grew higher than women’s (53.3%), increasing the gender disparity as a consequence. Unlike in many other economies, healthy life expectancy improves in Nigeria for both men and women, although more so for men, thereby diminishing gender parity in this indicator.”

Meanwhile, this development cannot be separated from the fact that the number of women in critical political positions in the country continues to fall short of President Tinubu’s campaign promises to increase women’s representation in the country, boasting that equity and fairness for women would be his priority.

In retrospect, the reality in the country contradicts the president’s campaign promise, as his cabinet now has eight female ministers out of 48, following a series of cabinet changes.

Female representation in the legislative branch is also low; currently, women hold only four of the 109 Senate seats and seventeen of the 360 House of Representatives seats, making up only 4.2% of the National Assembly. The report further highlights that Nigeria has never had a female head of state in the last 50 years, placing the country at 81st on that measure.