Developing a Feminist Political Economy Framework for Analysing Gender Inequality in Nigeria

Mainstream political economy analyses of Nigeria's development challenges have systematically neglected gender as a structural dimension, treating inequality as primarily class or ethnic in origin. This study develops an original feminist political economy framework for analysing gender inequality in Nigeria, grounded in critical social science theory and empirical evidence from all six geopolitical zones. A constructivist paradigm underpins a multi-method design combining systematic literature review, expert Delphi consultation with 45 gender scholars and economists, ethnographic fieldwork with 80 women across six zones, and historical institutional analysis of gender-related economic policies since 2000. Grounded theory and discourse analysis provided the analytical tools. Findings reveal that gender inequality in Nigeria is reproduced through interlocking mechanisms including patriarchal property relations, feminised care burden, gendered labour market segmentation, male-biased public investment, and masculinist state institutions, which standard political economy frameworks address only partially. The resulting Nigerian Feminist Political Economy Framework (NFPEF) integrates labour, care, social reproduction, and power dimensions of gender inequality within a historically contextualised Nigerian institutional analysis. The NFPEF is validated through retrospective application to three major economic policy episodes. This study makes an original theoretical contribution to feminist economics and political economy in sub-Saharan Africa, providing a foundation for gender-transformative policy analysis. Keywords: feminist political economy, gender inequality, Nigeria, theoretical framework, social reproduction