Gender-Related Issues and Labour Force Status of Federal University Graduates in Southwestern Nigeria

Abstract

Gender is a major demographic factor that determines who gets a place in the labour market. However, in Nigeria, the number of women in formal employment does not reflect the population ratio of women to men in the country. Women are mostly found in the informal sector working as sub-contractors, home-based businesses, and dependent employees although women with higher educational certificates tend to earn more, hence the need for this study. The Quant+qual mixed methods design was adopted, while multi-stage sampling technique was used to select two thousand graduates. Thirty human resource managers (HRMs) were interviewed. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, while qualitative data were content analysed. The findings of the study revealed that gender influenced the labour force status of respondents in Southwestern Nigeria while the female gender was mostly into self-employment. This study recommended that universities should provide more females with relevant skills and information required by different economic sectors.