Gender and Academic Leadership in Nigerian Universities: Barriers and Enabling Conditions

This study investigates the barriers and enabling conditions for women's access to academic leadership positions in Nigerian universities, using a mixed-method design that integrates quantitative career trajectory analysis with qualitative exploration of lived experience. Women remain significantly underrepresented in vice-chancellorship, deanship, and professorial ranks in Nigerian universities despite representing a growing share of graduate and undergraduate enrolment. Understanding the structural, cultural, and institutional barriers sustaining this leadership gap is essential for designing effective equity interventions. Quantitative data were drawn from National Universities Commission records on gender distribution across academic ranks in 50 Nigerian federal and state universities from 2018 to 2023. Qualitative data were gathered through 35 in-depth interviews with female professors, associate professors, and academic leaders across universities in Lagos, Abuja, Ibadan, Kano, and Enugu. Thematic analysis and logistic regression were applied in an integrated mixed-method framework. Results reveal that women's progression beyond senior lecturer rank is significantly constrained by unconscious bias in promotion committees, competing domestic care responsibilities, limited access to research funding, and exclusion from informal academic networks. Enabling conditions for successful female academic leaders include strong institutional mentorship, supportive spouse/family arrangements, and access to international research collaboration. The study concludes that gender inequality in academic leadership is sustained by both structural and cultural barriers. It recommends that the NUC introduce mandatory gender equity targets for professorial promotion panels and that universities establish formal female academic mentoring networks.

Keywords: gender, academic leadership, Nigerian universities, women in academia, equity.