Exploring the dynamics of gender and leadership gap in universities in Nigeria: implications for Sustainable Development Goals 5:5

Abstract

The target of Sustainable Development Goal 5:5 is a new window of opportunity to address structural limitations that have held women back, causing them to lag behind men in the majority of economic opportunity measures and preventing them from significantly contributing to socio-economic and political development around the world. Global decision-makers and participants in the Sustainable Development Goals Gender Equality project continue to pay attention to Nigeria. The general objective of the study was to explore the dynamics of gender and leadership in universities in Nigeria. While the specific objectives are to: Ascertain how gender exacerbated unequal power relations between men and women in leadership positions in Nigerian universities. Discuss how the university community’s gender sensitization programs might change the prevalent mindset of discrimination against women in Nigerian universities. The radical feminist theory was used in the study. The paper was based on participant observations and narratives on gender and leadership found in extant literature. Findings identified that social and cultural barriers prevented the appointment of people to leadership positions based on their sex. The research recommended, among other things, that university governing councils should make policies that will guarantee equitable female representation in leadership positions.