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Summary: Nigerian women enter the workforce in equal numbers to men but largely disappear from senior positions due to marriage and motherhood, with research showing that having a child reduces women’s employment by 23% while actually boosting men’s careers.
When Hafsoh Olowo, a teacher, became a mother, she never thought she would face the costs associated with motherhood. She regularly attended webinars and completed free professional courses that supported her growth, but soon after becoming a mom, that changed.
“I was intentional about improving my skills, expanding my knowledge, and staying updated with best teaching practices,” she told Naija Feminists Media (NFM). “I felt overwhelmed by the new responsibilities, and at times I experienced emotional strain that affected my focus and confidence.”
Hafsoh shared that she struggled to maintain the same level of professional engagement and temporarily lost clarity about her career direction. As her responsibilities increased, she found herself slowly stepping back from professional activities, not out of lack of interest, but because motherhood made it more difficult to stay engaged.
Her employers and colleagues were supportive, but she became aware of an unspoken rule. “I did not experience explicit gendered comments, but I was aware of unspoken assumptions about how motherhood should affect my professional priorities,” Hafsoh said. “There were subtle indications of reduced opportunities.”
Reflecting on her experience, Hafsoh stated, “The main challenges I faced after childbirth were not from my workplace, which has been considerate, but from the workload at home and the limited availability of help.”
Hafsoh’s experience is not unique. Across Nigeria, women are entering the workforce in numbers equal to men, but something happens along the way that causes them to drop out of senior positions.
When Marriage Interrupts Ambition
Hafsa was not the only woman whose motherhood came with a career cost. Another woman, whom NFM spoke to on the condition of anonymity, shared that she was ambitious before marriage and willing to migrate anywhere for greener pastures.
All that soon changed when she married after university and became pregnant shortly after.
The first sacrifice was her having to stall her National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Then the next one was losing job opportunities. She shared with NFM in a WhatsApp conversation how her father had the means to get her a state government job, but chose to forfeit the opportunity because he felt her marriage was too young for her to start migrating.
“I feel women are likely to tie themselves down even before external forces, such as spouses, do that,” she said. “I felt it was unhealthy for my marriage for me to up and leave for my career, not because my husband was not supportive, but because I felt I would rather my husband do the migrating for better opportunities than me. I still feel motherhood is a major contributing factor to women not attaining their full potential.”
A 2022 study published in Economics Letters analysed data from 29 countries and found that while marriage reduces women’s employment by 3.3%, having a child reduces women’s employment by 23%. For men, the pattern is reversed. After becoming fathers, men’s earnings and employment actually improve, but only if their wives earn less than they do.
When Childbirth Forces a Career Rethink
A study published in Healthcare found that mothers experience identity conflicts between their professional and maternal roles. This was the experience of Ms Toluwalope Toye, founder of Hove Organics. She started as a tailor before marriage. She eventually moved into skincare, and five years down the line, decided she wanted a career. She completed a course in Virtual Assistance and landed two jobs, one remote and one in person.
But she, too, felt the need to forfeit her physical engagement due to marriage and childbirth.
“I realised the impact I had on my children, husband, and home while working from home and the extent of the detriment of time and positive impact salary couldn’t pay back,” she told NFM.
Ms Toluwalope also identifies what she wishes she had received earlier: mentorship on prioritising career and business growth over marriage.
The Myth of Having It All
Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo, spoke openly about the impossibility of balance. At an Aspen Ideas Festival, she said, “I don’t think women can have it all. We pretend we can have it all… Being a stay-at-home mom is a full-time job, and being a CEO is three full-time jobs. How can you do justice to all of them?”
At the entry level of Nigeria’s formal sector, there is nearly equal representation between men and women, a 50-50 split. Women make up approximately 48.4% of the country’s total labour force as of 2024. But as you climb the corporate ladder, women begin to disappear. By the time you reach senior leadership teams and boardrooms, the gender disparity becomes glaring.
Cross-country research also shows that on average, 24% of women exit the labour market in their first year of motherhood. Five years later, 17% remain absent, and after a decade, 15% are still out of the workforce.
According to Statista reports, female labour force participation in Nigeria has declined over the past decade, from nearly 57% in 2010 to just over 52% in 2023. Despite more women getting educated and entering the workforce, fewer women are staying in it.
UBA Group is one of the few Nigerian institutions openly addressing this reality. Uzoamaka Oyeka, Head of Customer Fulfilment Centre at UBA Plc, wrote that more than 45% of the UBA Group Board is female. But even as she celebrates, Uzoamaka is candid about what it costs women to get there.
“Despite the multiple setbacks women face juggling careers with their personal lives, pregnancy, childbirth and maternity leaves, we channel double that energy into our leadership roles,” she wrote.
The System That Keeps Women Down
Nigeria’s labour protections for women are weak and poorly enforced. The Nigerian Labour Act provides for 12 weeks of maternity leave at 50% pay. Some state governments have gone further, with Lagos, Enugu, and Kaduna offering 24 weeks of fully paid maternity leave, but these improvements only apply to a tiny fraction of Nigerian women.
A 2019 study by the Federal Ministry of Health found significant gaps in Nigeria’s legislation, including a lack of clarity on penalties for organisations that deny women maternity leave and the fact that large pockets of the population, such as those in the informal sector, are being left out entirely.
Most Nigerian women work in the informal sector, where there are no maternity leave policies, no workplace protections, and no safety nets. A study on maternity leave duration found that most organisational and labour laws in Nigeria are not maternal-friendly, as nursing mothers usually find it stressful and enormous to balance their responsibilities at work and the care of their tender infants.”
What Real Change Requires
To understand the systemic changes needed to support working women and mothers in Nigeria, NFM spoke with Oluwatoyin Magbagbeola, the founder of Femrivied, a mobile hiring platform and community designed to advance African women’s careers. Oluwatoyin explained that work lace systems must be redesigned with women’s lived realities in mind.
“This includes enforceable maternity and paternity leave policies, flexible and remote work options, affordable and accessible childcare, and workplace protections that prevent discrimination against women after marriage or childbirth, she said. “Equally important is challenging the deeply rooted societal expectation that caregiving is solely a woman’s responsibility, which continues to shape hiring decisions, promotions, and career progression.”
Women’s rights advocate, Oluwafumbi Ogunsola, added that Nigeria needs to strengthen the implementation of its workplace policies.
“The issue is not the absence of protections but enforcement, especially in private institutions where maternity rights are often ignored or quietly violated,” Oluwafunmbi said. “Many women are unable to access these protections without fear of retaliation, which makes the policies ineffective in practice.”
Fumbi added that beyond enforcement, structural support systems are necessary to reduce the burden on working mothers.
“We need systems that make these protections usable without fear of retaliation,” she said, noting that incentives for subsidised, workplace-linked childcare would significantly ease the pressure on working mothers and limit career disruptions after childbirth.
