The Gender Pay Gap in Nigeria: Causes and Remedies

Abstract

Pay gap between males and females is a major policy concern in national developmental discourse. The paper examines the causes of gender pay gap in Nigeria. The theories proposed in literature suggest three principal causes: differences in human capital, crowding discrimination, and other forms of discrimination. This paper reviews studies on the pay disparities and examines the many explanations for the disparities. It employs both primary and secondary data sources from the Federal Office of Statistics (FOS) and the survey conducted by the researcher. The population for the study comprised teachers, medical doctors and journalists in three local government areas in Lagos Nigeria. Respondents were randomly selected from each of the three professional bodies. 240 questionnaires were administered across of which 185(77 %) made up of 82 (44.3%) females and 103 (55.7%) males were returned in usable condition. Mean comparisons were used to determine significance of differences between the pay of male and female respondents. To reduce the disparities in pay it recommends actions like legislative measures, general recommendations, monitoring procedures and support for low-paid occupations. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n2p211