These Laws are Infantilizing Nigerian Women

Women make up about half of Nigeria’s population, yet its laws do not reflect this fact. The continued existence of laws that directly whittle down the autonomy of women, compounded by failure to implement laws promoting women’s equality and the absence of institutional mechanisms promoting women’s rights (an inalienable, integral and indivisible part of universal human rights), drastically reduce the quality of life enjoyed by Nigerian women.

Infantilization, which inhibits Nigeria’s development by barring half of the population (represented by women) from making meaningful contributions to society, is one of the factors responsible for laws that are unfair to women. This only serves to hinder productivity and economic progress of the country as a whole. It exacerbates the feminisation of poverty, violence, and distortions within the family unit, and limits women’s access to financial resources, economic opportunities, and political participation. According to a British Council research report conducted in 2012 to assess the level of gender equality in Nigeria, Nigeria ranks 118 out of 134 countries in the Gender Equality Index. This means Nigeria is a highly patriarchal society, a key characteristic of this being the disproportionate subjugation of women which stretches across socio-economic backgrounds – from everyday women to sitting senators, Nigerian women have had to struggle to lead full lives in a society designed to disregard their autonomy.

Nigeria has signed and ratified many international and regional treaties promoting and protecting the rights of women in Nigeria, including the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the 2006 National Gender Policy, but there are still archaic laws in place. Under the 2006 policy, the government must be proactive in its commitment to addressing issues disproportionately affecting women and must ensure that women’s issues are considered in the formulation and implementation of all policies and programmes. The policy expressly highlights the problems faced by women in various sectors of the economy including education, health, employment, agriculture, legal reform, legislative protection, and in legislative decision-making.

Here are eight discriminatory Nigerian policies and laws which are unfair to women.

The Labour Act 2004
Section 55 of the Labour Act prohibits women from working at night. The section provides that “no woman shall be employed on night work in a public or private industrial undertaking … or in any agricultural undertaking.” The only exception is for nurses. It goes without saying that full adults should be able to determine their own working hours and this legislation greatly reduces job opportunities for Nigerian women, in an economy where gainful employment is already incredibly hard to come by.
Under Section 34(1) of the same Act, “men who are employed in the public service in Nigeria are permitted to be accompanied to their place [of posting] by members of his family’.’ This provision is not applicable to women in public service, meaning that women have to resume at their place of posting without their families.

The Police Act 2020
Section 127 of the Police Act prohibits married women from seeking enlistment in the Nigerian Police Force and states that an unmarried police woman who gets pregnant, will automatically be discharged from the force, and can only be re-instated on the approval of the Inspector General of police.
Under Regulation 124 of the Act, a female police officer who is interested in getting married must initially apply in writing to the commissioner of police for approval, and permission will only be granted if the intended husband is of good character and the female police officer has served in the force for a period of not less than three years. Neither one of these provisions applies to male police officers.

Section 26 (2)(a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999

This section confers the right of citizenship on any foreign woman who is married to a Nigerian citizen but denies this right to foreign men. This means that Nigerian women are not able to share citizenship with their non-Nigerian spouses, while Nigerian men can.

Section 14(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999

This section reflects the fact that the Constitution does not include gender consideration in the composition of the government and its agencies, because it does not recognise the role of women in governance. For example, Section 14 provides that “the composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies … shall be carried out in such a manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity … thereby ensuring that there shall be no predominance of persons from a few States or from a few ethnic or other sectional groups … ” The wording of the Section gives room for the marginalisation of women in government appointments, because while other aspects of society such as ethnic and sectional groups are mentioned, it is silent on the issue of gender.
Nigeria ranks lowest among Sub-Saharan African countries in women’s representation in government. Out of 185 countries, Nigeria ranked 180th in 2024, with only 4.4% female representation. Even in states with female legislators, the numbers remain disproportionately low. The situation is similarly bleak for elective executive positions: since the return to democratic rule in 1999, no woman has been elected president, vice president, or governor in Nigeria.

The Criminal Code 1990
Under Section 353 of the Criminal Code, a person who unlawfully and indecently assaults a man is guilty of a felony and liable to imprisonment for three years. However, by virtue of Section 360 of the same Code, a person who unlawfully and indecently assaults a woman is guilty of a misdemeanour and is liable to imprisonment for two years only. A misdemeanor is a lesser offence than a felony and this disparity only supports the assertion that Nigerian women are less than men and the grievous offences committed against their bodies are not to be taken seriously.
This dismissal of women’s autonomy is also seen in the Nigerian government’s failure to criminalize marital rape. Section 6 of the Criminal Code clarifies that “unlawful carnal knowledge” (the key ingredient for a rape) means sexual intercourse outside of marriage. This means that under this law, a husband cannot be charged with raping his wife, as sexual relations within marriage are considered lawful, regardless of consent, owing to Nigerian women being stripped of autonomy and the status of a full adult while in marriages.

The Penal Code 1960
Section 34(1) of the Nigerian Constitution bestows on an “individual respect for the dignity of his person.” However, there are two provisions of the Penal Code that encourage wife brutality in Nigeria.
The first is Section 55(10) of the Penal Code, which permits husbands to chastise their wives. According to the Section, “Nothing is an offence which does not amount to the infliction of grievous harm upon a person and which is done by a husband for the purpose of correcting his wife.” The second is Section 241 of the Penal Code, which allows a husband to beat his wife as long as it does not lead to serious injuries or grievous harm. In essence, the Penal Code condones domestic violence against women, reducing women to infants at the mercy of their husbands.
Similar to the Criminal Code, the Penal Code allows for marital rape: Section 282(2) states: “Sexual intercourse by a man with his wife is not rape, except if the wife has not attained the age of puberty.” This provision also implicitly recognises child marriage, as a “wife” who has not reached the age of puberty is not a woman, but a child.

The Nigerian Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Act 2004
Under Article 5(1) of the NDLEA Act, “All female applicants shall be unmarried at the point of entry, and shall upon enlistment remain unmarried for a period of not less than two years.” Article 5(2) also provides that, “All unmarried female members of staff that wish to marry shall apply in writing to the Chairman/Chief Executive, asking for permission, stating details of the intended husband.”
The provisions in these sections notably do not apply to men.

The Marriage Act 1990
Section 18 of the Marriage Act requires the written consent of the father of either party to an intended marriage, if the party is under 21 years of age. Written consent of a mother is only relevant if the father is dead, of unsound mind or absent from Nigeria at the relevant time.