A new study by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, conducted in partnership with Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) has rated Nigerian companies better than global average with regards to commitment to gender equality.
The study, “Gender Equality in Nigeria’s Private Sector”, assessed gender gaps at 30 leading companies listed on NGX using the Equileap Scorecard- a methodology that evaluates gaps across four categories.
The categories namely- corporate leadership, compensation and flexible work, corporate policies to promote gender equality, and efforts on commitment, transparency, and accountability in closing gender gaps.
The study recommended that efforts be doubled to bridge the remaining gap between women and men in the Nigerian private sector.
The report says in overall, Nigerian companies scored an average of 32 percent across 19 gender equality metrics for the highlighted four categories, two percentage points behind the global average in Equileap’s dataset reported in 2020.
The companies assessed scored better than the global average on women’s participation as leaders on boards and compared favorably with global averages on women in senior management.
The report also suggested that more needed to be done to achieve gender balance between 40 and 60 percent of each gender—across the four categories.
To help improve gender balance in the private sector, the report recommended improving gender equality in formal employment, capital for women and access to markets through supply chains and procurement opportunities.
Commenting, Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), Temi Popoola said, “NGX has gender equality embedded at the core of its working practices and has made giant strides in galvanizing capital market stakeholders to institutionalize gender equality within their operations. The Nigeria2Equal program comes as a strategic initiative designed to support the private sector in increasing women’s participation in employment and entrepreneurship through favorable workforce policies and practices and we are resolute in our commitment to participate in the program going forward.”
The report is part of the Nigeria2Equal initiative launched in 2020 by IFC in partnership with Nigerian Exchange (NGX).
The programme which runs until 2023, aimed to reduce gender gaps in the private sector through research and case studies, a 15-company peer learning platform, and provide firm-level advisory support to companies to implement gender action plans.
Also commenting, IFC’s Senior Country Manager for Nigeria, Kalim M. Shah said, “Through the Nigeria2Equal initiative, we are working with CEOs of private sector companies listed on the Exchange who are committed to implementing gender-smart solutions to improve their performance in gender across leadership, employment and entrepreneurship.
“By conducting market research and publishing studies, such as this report, we are providing strong evidence on the important role women play in the country’s private sector, helping companies to identify gaps and constraints, and ultimately invest in reducing those gaps.”
IFC recently unveiled a peer learning platform to accelerate efforts to bridge the gaps between women and men.
The participating companies, represent diverse business sectors such as banking and finance, construction, FMCG, food manufacturing, hospitality, insurance, logistics, oil & gas, ride hailing and telecommunications.
Some of the companies are: MTN Nigeria, Access Bank, Sterling Bank, EcoBank, AIICO Insurance, Ardova Plc, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Lafarge Africa, Moove Africa, StanbicIBTC Bank, Airtel Nigeria, UAC of Nigeria, Cadbury Nigeria, Red Star Express, Transcorp Hotels, and Union Bank.