A reflection BASED ON the WBL 2024 Nigeria case study and what it means for building gender-equitable systems
This post builds on insights from a previous case study we worked on, WBL 2024 Nigeria case study, where we examined how gaps in access to property, finance, and paid work continue to undermine women’s full economic participation in spite of the ongoing and longstanding legal reforms.
The research showed that there are indeed laws designed to bridge the gender gaps in Nigeria’s economic life. Policies exist that prohibit discrimination in employment, that guarantee equal pay for equal work, that provide women access to credit. These are important and they do matter. Legal protections create the foundation for justice and signal political intent. The current challenge though is that they are often not enough. In many cases, the legal reforms are too narrow or fragmented to fully address the root of economic exclusion.
Take for example the Labour Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment and mandates equal pay for equal work—but is almost silent on enforcement. In practice, wage gaps persist, especially in the informal and private sectors where women are overrepresented. Or consider the Central Bank of Nigeria’s gender-sensitive credit schemes which are well-designed on paper, but often inaccessible to rural or unbanked women due to lack of collateral, digital access, or financial literacy support. Nigeria’s National Gender Policy promotes women’s economic empowerment, but remains largely unfunded and unenforced at subnational levels. The Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act, a critical piece of legislation protecting women from gender-based and economic violence, has been domesticated by 35 out of Nigeria’s 36 states as of August 2024. While this signals strong national uptake, implementation gaps remain. From under-resourced response systems to weak awareness and access among the women most at risk.
Additionally, there are also entire categories of laws and policies that are still missing. Parts and pieces that should account for the informal economy, customary norms, care work, and systems of enforcement and redress.
Here’s a thought we have sat with for a bit;
We speak often about the importance of laws and policies, but we speak about them as if they are the finish line. They’re not.
First of all, passing a law is not the same as enforcing it. Then second, enforcing a law is not the same as ensuring people can access it. Third and finally, accessing a law is not the same as experiencing dignity, equity, or economic empowerment.
We need to move the conversation from law reform to delivery reform. Because what we call “implementation” is the real sweet spot where justice either lands, or evaporates. And if you have done the women and gender work in Nigeria, you will understand when I say that that space is messy, political, and deeply systemic.
The work ahead, for those of us committed to gender equity and seeking a significant improvement for the livelihoods of women in Nigeria and across Africa, is to design for the full journey: from policy design, law enactment and to lived experience. To ask not just what laws exist, but who is left out, how is change being delivered, and what systems are holding women back even after reform happens. In the next couple of posts, we lay out a framework we’ve done some work (research, consultations etc) in developing for this. We hypothesize and design frameworks that could help move us beyond policy optimism into the hard, necessary work of transforming systems (designed to bridge gender gaps) to match our values.
But for now, let’s sit with this first shift:
Laws can start a story, but if we want justice, we have to write the rest.
Still Learning. Staying Curious.
Project by Projects 