Deconstructing the Gender Gap in Home Economics Career Choice: A Sociological Analysis of Nigerian University Students

This study conducts a sociological deconstruction of the gender gap in Home Economics career choice among Nigerian university students, examining the structural, cultural, and institutional forces that reproduce differential career orientations across gender lines. Despite Home Economics being historically associated with female education, emerging patterns of gendered career avoidance among female students and near-absent male enrolment present a complex dynamic that demands sociological explanation. The study employs a sequential mixed-methods design, beginning with a quantitative survey of 550 university students across South West, North Central, and South East universities, followed by qualitative focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with 60 purposively selected students and faculty. Quantitative analysis employs multinomial logistic regression and factor analysis, while qualitative data are analysed through Bourdieusian social field analysis and gender ideology discourse analysis. The Social Reproduction Theory and Gender Role Congruity Theory jointly anchor the study. Original contributions include the first Bourdieusian field analysis of Home Economics career choice in Nigeria, a gender-segregation index for Home Economics programmes, and a sociological model of career channelling in vocational education. Findings are expected to reveal that institutional habitus, social capital configurations, and gendered occupational schemas collectively reproduce career avoidance patterns. Recommendations target universities, career counsellors, and the Federal Ministry of Education. Keywords: gender gap, career choice, Home Economics, sociological analysis, Nigerian universities.