A new report by global consulting firm McKinsey & Company has revealed that women occupy only 33 per cent of formal jobs in Nigeria, raising concerns over gender representation in the country’s private sector.
Partner at McKinsey & Company, Mayowa Kuyoro, who co-authored the report, disclosed this representation in a statement. McKinsey unveiled the report at the Africa CEO Forum 2025, held in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
According to the firm, women’s underrepresentation in Nigeria’s formal private sector is largely driven by low entry-level recruitment, not attrition at senior levels.
“The data tells a clear story: Nigeria’s leadership gap is rooted in the entry-level barrier,” the report stated. “Once women are in the system, they advance steadily, but the path remains too narrow at the start. Only one in three entry-level formal sector roles are held by women, despite broader workforce participation.”
Findings from the report, which analysed data from 324 organisations across Nigeria, Kenya, and India employing about 1.4 million people, revealed that women hold only 33 per cent of entry-level positions in Nigeria.
The figures dip slightly to 29 per cent at both the managerial and executive levels.
“This signals that the gender gap is wide at the point of entry,” the report added. “Women’s representation remains relatively consistent in the more senior ranks, with women holding approximately 28 to 29 out of every 100 roles from the manager to the C-suite level.”
Kuyoro explained that although senior women workers are more likely to be promoted than their male counterparts, they are also more prone to exiting the system or making lateral career moves.
“Policies and practices are correlated with better outcomes in women’s representation across India, Kenya and Nigeria, but successfully implementing them is critical,” Kuyoro noted.
Kuyoro stressed that while many firms have baseline policies around safety, security, and bias mitigation, only a few have adopted high-impact differentiator policies that are common in organisations performing better on gender equity.
The report called on private sector leaders to prioritise inclusive hiring policies and structural support systems to widen access for women at the entry-level and boost their long-term representation in formal employment.
