




































 
 

 

1 
© 2020 by the authors; licensee Asian Online Journal Publishing Group 
 

Economy 
Vol. 7, No. 1, 1-10, 2020 

ISSN(E) 2313-8181/ ISSN(P) 2518-0118 
DOI: 10.20448/journal.502.2020.71.1.10 

© 2019 by the authors; licensee Asian Online Journal Publishing Group 

    
 

 
 
 
Socio-Economic Implication of Political and Economic Participation of Women in 
Nigeria 

 
Faruq Umar   

 

 
 
Innovation and Technology Policy Department (ITPD), Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research 
(NISER), Ibadan, Nigeria. 

 

 
Abstract 

This paper examined social-economic impacts of economic and political empowerment of women 
in Nigeria between 1990–2018. To achieve our main objective, we employed a trend analysis and 
ARDL technique with data sourced from the WDI (2019) and various issues of National Bureau of 
Statistics. We observed that the growth of women (between age 15 and 64) in labour force 
participation in Nigeria is trending downwardly during the period under consideration. While the 
proportion of female representation in the parliament has been on the increase since the advent of 
the fourth Republic in 1999. Finally, we unsurprisingly, discovered that despite the huge 
resources committed to advocacy for women‟s empowerment, the social costs in terms of the 
increased crime rate among youth and the level of insecurity in the country significantly 
overwhelmed the economic benefits in term of increased economic growth. Consequently, we inter 
alia recommended that the governments together with these advocacy groups should channel the 
same amount of resources devoted to campaigns for women empowerment into reversing the ugly 
trend of juvenile delinquency if the level of insecurity in Nigeria is to be curtailed. And, the 
proposed bill by the National Assembly and the 36 state Houses of Assemblies to increase the 
maternity leave from its current level of 3 months to 6 months should be fast-track and duly 
implemented across board in both public and private organizations. 

 
Keywords: Women empowerment, Insecurity, Endogenous growth model, ARDL technique, Juvenile Delinquencies. 

JEL Classification: J13; A1; B23; C22; O11; O47. 
 

Citation | Faruq Umar (2020). Socio-Economic Implication of 
Political and Economic Participation of Women in Nigeria. 
Economy, 7(1): 1-10. 
History:  
Received: 13 January 2020 
Revised: 18 February 2020 
Accepted: 25 March 2020 
Published: 21 April 2020 
Licensed: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons 

Attribution 3.0 License  
Publisher:  Asian Online Journal Publishing Group 
 

Funding: This study received no specific financial support. 
Competing Interests: The author declares that there are no conflicts of 
interests regarding the publication of this paper. 
Transparency: The author confirms that the manuscript is an honest, 
accurate, and transparent account of the study was reported; that no vital 
features of the study have been omitted; and that any discrepancies from the 
study as planned have been explained. 
Ethical: This study follows all ethical practices during writing.   

 

 

Contents 
1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 2 
2. Literature Review ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2 
3. Research Methodology ...................................................................................................................................................................... 4 
4. Results and Discussions ..................................................................................................................................................................... 6 
5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 8 
References ................................................................................................................................................................................................. 9 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 

 

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Contribution of this paper to the literature 
This study contributes to existing literature by examining social-economic impacts of economic and 
political empowerment of women in Nigeria between 1990–2018.  

 
1. Introduction 
1.1.  Background to Study 

Crime rate among Nigerian youths has assumed a worrisome dimension, today. If the current trajectory in 
crime rate among these youths is allowed to continue unabatedly, the future of Nigeria and its productive army is 
clearly on the path of destruction (see (Adebayo, 2013; Ajaegbu, 2012; Ajufo, 2013)). Nigeria is a developing 
country and it is no doubts currently experiencing rising crime waves, criminal intentions and varying degree of 
delinquencies. Nigeria has been on the global crime map since 1980s (Dambazau, 2007). These crimes are in 
different dimensions that include armed robbery, murder, rape, religious radicalism, banditry, kidnapping, car theft, 
burglary, fraud, bribery and corruption, smoking and drug addiction, gambling, exam malpractices, smuggling, 
human trafficking, kidnapping, drug trafficking, terrorism, money laundering, internet scam, advanced fee fraud 
(419), cultism, „aristo‟ among ladies just to mention a few (Aremu & Ahmed, 2011). Sadly, these forms of crimes are 
committed mostly by the youth virtually in every nooks and crannies of the country. Criminality has become an 
integral part of the daily life of many of these youths who are supposed to be the ingredients required for the 
upliftment of the country amongst the comity of nations. This spate of crimes is capable of, if not already, 
undermining the corporate existence of the country as well as efforts towards sustainable growth and development 
(Tanimu, 2006). Security and crime have been deeply rooted in the political history of this country, particularly in 
the recent times, which has emerged as a key concept in Nigeria‟s struggle for good governance, sustainable 
democracy and development. 

The main concept behind the formation of a state is security. The state therefore has the responsibility of 
maintaining law and order in the society and also to protect and defend the national integrity of the state. As 
enshrined in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria the security and welfare of the people is the 
primary purpose of the government.  However, it appears government has failed to provide a secured and safe 
environment for lives and property including the free conduct of economic activities. Since the return of the 
country to democratic rule, security of lives and property has been so threatened by these juvenile delinquencies 
that has manifest in various forms (Okafor, 2011; Onwuka, Ugwu, Chukwuma, & Chijioke, 2015). In an attempt to 
contain these increasing waves of violent crime in Nigeria, the federal government has been committing huge 
budgetary allocation to security via the Federal Ministry of Defence and the office of the National Security Adviser 
to the president in its various forms since 1999. For example, the 8th National Assembly of Nigeria comprises of the 
senate and House of Representative in 2018, gave an approval to a loan of about One Billion US dollars from 
international creditors to fight terrorism and other forms of crimes. All these monies are meant to purchase 
fighting equipment and organized special training for the security forces which is a trade-off for developmental 
strides. Meanwhile, the National Security Adviser (NSA) has continued to organize trainings for the military and 
para-military personnel both local and international in order to de-radicalize the youth and nip the insecurity in the 
bud. Despite these, it appears the level of violent crime in the country is still rife, and a confirmation of this is the 
low ranking (148/163) of Nigeria in the Global Peace Index (2019) and the United States of America put Nigeria on a 
watch list of potential terrorist countries in 2009.   

Meanwhile, there are already avalanche of literature on the factors responsible for the rising crime rate in 
Nigeria, none seems to be focusing on the rising trend of women empowerment (see (Adebayo, 2013; Onwuka et al., 
2015; Osawe, 2015)) as a possible causal factor. Little or no attention has been given to the impact of employed or 
politically active married women on the upbringing and nurturing of their children in our society. The campaign 
for women empowerment is getting stronger by the day by a number of advocacy groups but no one is really doing 
much to examine the implications of this on the social evolution of the children and youths. In reality, in a 
traditional African setting, family remains fundamental to caring for the old and the sick as well as the children 
who are the next generation, however, the modern society seems to steer more educated women from marriage and 
child bearing, giving zero attention to the abandonment of women‟s traditional roles notwithstanding the grave 
warning signs. Maternal support that are highly required by children while growing up are now deprived of due to 
full-time job obligations with increasing social vices and thereby affects the economic growth target, in the long-
run. According to Laub and Sampson (1993) a mother-child relationship is a social and psychological resource from 
which the children draw as they grow in life. This relation is like a social investment or social capital, thus if 
politics or economic activities prevent mothers from investing in their children, it directly or indirectly results in 
negative consequences.    

In this respect, this study intends to observe a trend analysis of political and economic participation of women 
in Nigeria and its implication on juvenile delinquencies. Thus, the main objective of the study is to investigate the 
social-economic implication of political/economic empowerment of women in Nigeria. To achieve our objectives, 
the following research questions are formulated: What are the observable trends in economic and political 
empowerment of women in Nigeria? Lastly, has empowerment of women exhibited any significant impact on socio-
economic growth in Nigeria? The rest of the paper is structured as follows: section two presents the review of 
literature on women empowerment and economic growth; section three presents the theoretical framework and 
research methodology; the empirical findings of the study are discussed in section four; and the final section 
presents the conclusion and policy recommendations. 
 

2. Literature Review 
2.1. Factors Responsible for Economic Growth and Development 

Economists generally agree that economic development and growth are influenced by four factors: human 
resources, physical capital, natural resources and technology (see (Romer, 1990; Todaro, 1992)). Highly developed 
countries have governments that focus on these areas. Less-developed countries, even those with high amounts of 



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natural resources, will lag behind when they fail to promote research in technology and improve the skills and 
education of their workers. 

The skills, education and training of the labor force have a direct effect on the growth of an economy. A skilled, 
well-trained workforce is more productive and will produce a high-quality output that adds efficiency to an 
economy. A shortage of skilled labor can be a deterrent to economic growth. An under-utilized, illiterate and 
unskilled workforce will become a drag on an economy and may possibly lead to higher unemployment. 

Improvements and increased investment in physical capital – such as roadways, machinery and factories – will 
reduce the cost and increase the efficiency of economic output. Factories and equipment that are modern and well-
maintained are more productive than physical labor. Higher productivity leads to increased output. Labor becomes 
more productive as the ratio of capital expenditures per worker increases. An improvement in labor productivity 
increases the growth rate of the economy. 

The quantity and availability of natural resources affect the rate of economic growth. The discovery of more 
natural resources, such as oil or mineral deposits, will give a boost to the economy by increasing a country's 
production capacity. The effectiveness of a county at utilizing and exploiting its natural resources is a function of 
the skills of the labor force, type of technology and the availability of capital. Skilled and educated workers are able 
to use these natural resources to spur the growth of the economy. 

Improvements in technology have a high impact on economic growth. As the scientific community makes more 
discoveries, managers find ways to apply these innovations as more sophisticated production techniques. The 
application of better technology means the same amount of labor will be more productive, and economic growth 
will advance at a lower cost. Countries that recognize the importance of the four factors that affect economic 
growth will have higher growth rates and improved standards of living for their people. Technological innovation 
and more education for workers will improve economic output which lead to a better living environment for 
everyone. Increases in labor productivity are much easier to achieve when investments are made on better 
equipment that require less physical work from the labor force (Grossman & Helpman, 1991; Romer, 1990). 
 

2.2. Recent Political Landscape in Nigeria: Women Participation in Nigeria Politics 
Women are reported to form 49.4 per cent of Nigeria‟s population (NBS, 2017). However, female political 

representation in the just concluded 2019 general elections is negligible relative to the approximately half of the 
population they constitute. According to the INEC (2019) 2019 general election reports; only 62 women out of the 
2,970 who contested for different political offices in the 2019 general elections got elected into the various offices 
they vied for. Apart from the 1999 election which signaled the birth of the fourth Republic in Nigeria that saw 
women occupying 15 seats in the National Assembly – three in the Senate and 12 in the House of Representatives – 
the number of elected female lawmakers has never been this poor in any other election at the federal level. 
Although, there is currently the affirmative action of 35% representation of women in political and non-elective 
positions in Nigeria, the number of women in the legislative houses is not so encouraging as a result of the 
patriarchal dominance of the men in Nigeria. 

In the elective positions in Nigeria since 1999, it is evident that women have not reached 10% representation. 
From 1999 till date, no woman has been vice president of Nigeria and not to talk of being the president. In 2011 for 
instance, only one woman contested for the post of the president in Nigeria under the platform of the People‟s 
Democratic Party and she did not survive the primary election. In 2015, 5 women out of the 14 contestants 
contested for the vice-presidential position while 14 men contested the post of president. The number of women 
elected to public offices in Nigeria did not increase after the 2019 election. Instead, there was a decline to any 
progress made in women‟s previous outings since the inception of the fourth Republic, this is evident from Table 1, 
below.  

In the 2019‟s National Assembly election, 235 women, forming 12.34 per cent of candidates, contested for seats 
in the Senate of which seven (6.42 per cent) were elected. This remained constant in the 8th Senate, which also 
accounted for 6.42 per cent of the total number of elected senators. 

In the House of Representatives, 533 women contested and only 11 (3.05 per cent) got elected. The record from 
the 8th assembly has thus been halved, as it had 22 female lawmakers. 
 

Table-1. Statistics of women elective office holders since the inception of the fourth republic. 

S/N Position No of Seats 1999 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 

1 Presidency 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 
2 Vice President 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 
3 Governors 36 0 0 0 0 0 0 
5 Senate 109 3 (2.8%) 4 (3.7%) 9 (8.3%) 7 (6.4%) 7(6.4%) 7(6.4%) 

6 House of 
Representative 

360 12 
(3.3%) 

21(5.8%) 26(7.2%) 25(6.9%) 19(5.2%) 11(3.1%) 

7 States Houses of 
Assembly 

990 24(2.4%) 40(3.9%) 57(5.8%) 68(6.9%) 54(4.6%) 40(4.0%) 

 

2.3. Review of Empirical Studies  
Ehigie and Umoren (2003) examined the psychological factors influencing entrepreneurial success among 

Nigerian women in small-scale businesses. The study focused on self-concept, perceived managerial competence, 
and work stress and business commitment as important psychological variables for entrepreneurial success among 
female entrepreneurs. The study concludes that success for female entrepreneurs relies on a high self-concept 
regarding their role in business, commitment to business and reduction of a conflict between home responsibilities 
and business. Finally, the study recommends training programs as essential for effective business management 
among women entrepreneurs. Ekpe (2011) conducted a study on “Women Entrepreneurs and Economic 
Development in Nigeria: Characteristics for Success”. Using women entrepreneurs who were clients of 4 micro-
finance institutions in the Northern region of Nigeria, the study found that motivation, foresight and achievement 
are vital characteristics for success; and that women entrepreneurs in Nigeria possess the necessary characteristics 



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for entrepreneurial success. Ekesionye and Okolo (2012) examined women empowerment and participation in 
economic activities as indispensable tools for self-reliance and development of Nigeria. Using 351 randomly-
selected women respondents in Anambra State, it was found that the major economic activities of women in the 
area included farming, trading, craft, food processing, hair dressing and poultry. Their sources of fund include 
personal savings, family assistance, philanthropist‟s assistance, loans and credits, cooperative society assistance, and 
group contributions (esusu). Inability of government to provide support, corruption on the part of implementers, 
family burden, cultural restrictions, husband influence and illiteracy were the obstacles women encounter in 
carrying out their economic activities. In a related development, Fapohunda (2012) carried out a study on Women 
and the Informal Sector in Nigeria: Implications for Development. The study was based on library sources and a 
field survey of 150 women in the Mushin, Agege and Lagos Island Areas of Lagos, Nigeria. He observed that 
employment opportunities in the formal sector are often denied women because of family responsibilities, lack of 
skills, social and cultural barriers; the informal sector is often the only possibility for women to get access to 
employment and to earn an income. Consequently, women dominate the informal sector, necessitating why policies 
and developments affecting the informal economy thus have a distinctly gendered effect. The paper argued that the 
informal sector has a high labour-absorption capacity and there is the need to increase the level of stimulation of 
employment opportunities. 
 

2.4. Theoretical Review 
2.4.1. The Gender Empowerment Theory. 

This theory assumes that nations, businesses, communities, and groups can benefit from the implementation of 
programs and policies that adopt the notion of women empowerment (Deneulin & Shahani, 2009). The 
empowerment language can actually lead to raised awareness (Rappaport, 1986). Empowerment can be understood 
by examining the concepts of power and powerlessness (Moscovitch & Drover, 1981). Power is defined by the 
Cornell Empowerment Group as the “capacity of some persons and organizations to produce intended, foreseen and 
unforeseen effects on others” (Cornell Empowerment Group, 1989). There are many sources of power. Personality, 
property/wealth, and influential organizations have been identified by Galbraith and Schendel (1983) as critical 
sources of power in the last part of 21stcentury. Others have pointed out that the class-dominated nature of our 
society means that a small number of people have vast economic or political power, while the majority has little or 
none (Moscovitch & Drover, 1981). 

According to Wallerstein (1992) empowerment is a social-action process that promotes participation of people, 
organizations, and communities towards the goals of increased individual and community control, political efficacy, 
improved quality of community life, and social justice.  

Gender empowerment can be measured through the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). The GEM shows 
women‟s participation in a given nation, both politically and economically. GEM is calculated by tracking the share 
of seats in parliament held by women; of female legislators, senior officials and managers; and of female profession 
and technical workers; and the gender disparity in earned income, reflecting economic independence. It then ranks 
countries given this information. Other measures that take into account the importance of female participation and 

equality include the Gender Parity Index and the Gender-related Development Index (Deneulin & Shahani, 
2009).  
 
2.4.2. The U-Shape Hypothesis 

The U-shaped hypothesis is a stylized description of the relationship between the female labor force 
participation rate with economic development, which is typically measured in terms of GDP per capita. In its basic 
form, the hypothesis posits that female participation rates are highest in poor countries, where women are engaged 
in subsistence activities, and fall in middle-income countries because of the transition of (mainly) men to industrial 
jobs. As education levels improve and fertility rates fall, women are able to join the labor force in response to 
growing demand in the services sector. This is a stylized fact, but it is not robust to different data sets and 
econometric methodologies. While some countries follow this path, many labor markets do not exhibit this U-
shaped relationship. 

According to Verick (2018) as society develops and begins to shift to a more industrialized economy, women‟s 
opportunities for employment decrease. Family production aimed at self-consumption decreases and most 
consumed goods are produced outside the home, making it more difficult for women to reconcile childcare and 
work. Moreover, technical change requires employees with a higher level of education and the capacity to use 
machines, diminishing women‟s employment opportunities, and thus, their labour participation. This process is 
reinforced by the existence of social norms that dictate that women are responsible for domestic chores and 
stigmatize female participation in the workforce, making it difficult for women to work in the manufacturing 
industry. However, with the subsequent expansion of the service industry and the associated increase in female 
levels of education, new opportunities of employment for women are created. This, together with their higher 
wages, increases the opportunity cost of staying at home and reduces fertility rates.  During this process, both 
income and substitution effects take place (Goldin & Kanellakis, 1995).  
 

3. Research Methodology 
This section is divided into three sections; the first part presents the source of data and description of variables; 

the second section depicts the theoretical framework while the last section contains estimation techniques 
employed in the study. 

 

3.1. Data Sources and Description 
The data are sourced from the World Development Indicators (WDI, 2019) of the World Bank Group and the 

National Bureau of Statistics (NBS, 2013, 2018) of Nigeria. The WDI database with focus on the Gender Statistics 
consists of more than 500 indicators on topics such as economic growth, education, population, environment and 
natural resources, national accounts, social policy statistics, development assistance, for over 200 countries from 



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1960 to 2018. The choice of a times series data analysis was premised on the nature of our database while the 
rationale behind the adoption of WDI database was based on the availability of a wide range of indicators. 
Specifically, the study utilized data on female labour force, political participation of women, gross domestic product 
and gross capital formation as the relevant macroeconomic performance indicators from WDI database while data 
on child delinquencies were from the (NBS, 2013, 2018). Table 2 describes the various variables employed in our 
analysis.  
 

Table-2. Description of Variables. 

Dependent Variables  Variable description 

LRGDP Natural log of gross domestic product from (1990 – 2018).  
Independent Variables 
LJDLLF   Natural log of the interactive factor (LJDLLF) (i.e., interaction of female 

labour force participation (FLFP) and juvenile delinquency (JDL) (1990 – 
2018) 

Control Variables 
LGCF Natural log of gross capital formation (1990 – 2018). 
FLFP Female labour force participation (1990 – 2018) 
JDL Juvenile delinquency (1990 – 2018) 

 

3.2. Analytical Framework 
Adopting and modified the endogenous growth model by Romer (1990) with significant contributions from 

Grossman and Helpman (1991) and Aghion and Howitt (1992) by incorporating realities into the model. 
The endogenous growth model is the AK production function; a special case of a Cobb–Douglas production 

function:  

Y = AKαL1-α                               (1) 
Where:  
Y = the total production in an economy.  
A = effectiveness of labour. 
K = capital. 
L = labor. 

and the parameter α measures the output elasticity of capital.  
 

3.3. The Underlying Assumptions of Our Study from Reality 
There is a good producing sector. 

Y = AKαL1-α  (2) 

0<α<1 
Equation 2 implies constant returns to scale for labour and capital 
We assume the labour factor (L) in the model can be decomposed into 2: female labour force (Lf) and male 

labour force (Lm). That is, L = Lm + Lf.                 (3) 
It has been established in the literature that crime rate among children and youth is a positive function of 

female labour participation and negative function of income (Verick, 2018). As a result, the increased female labour 
force participation leads to increase in crime rate among children and youth. The consequences of the increased 
crime rates among children will eventually affect father‟s concentration at work and leads to loss of male 
productive hours as well as income and thereby affects economic growth.   

Hence, JDL = ƒ(Lm RGDP). This can be written explicitly as JDL = YLm. (4) 
From Equation 4, Lm = JDL/Y                                        (4a) 

Then, substitute Equations 4 and 4a into 2 and take the natural log of both sides. 

         lnY = lnA+ αlnK + (1- α)ln(JDL/Y+ Lf) 

Thus, Y = β0A + β1K + β2LJDLLF                                                         (5) 

From (5) is either β2 < 0 or β2 > 0, depending on the size of the net contribution of FLFP to the economic 
growth and reduction in economic growth due to loss in productive hours of male labour force participation. That 

is, if impact of FLFP is greater than impact of JDL, β2 > 0 and otherwise, β2 < 0. Thus, Equation 5 is the model of 
our study.  
 

3.4. Analytical Techniques 
To achieve the first objective of the study, trend analyses of female labour force participation and political 

participation were conducted using data from the WDI (2019). And the second and final objective of the study is 
achieved using the ARDL Bound Test technique. The ARDL Bound Test technique is employed to determine the 
long run relationship if any, between series with different order of integration (Pesaran, Shin, & Smith, 1999; 
Pesaran., Shin, & Smith, 2001). The reparameterized result gives the short-run dynamics and long run relationship 
of the considered variables. Although ARDL cointegration technique does not require pre-testing for unit roots, to 
avoid ARDL model crash in the presence of integrated stochastic trend of I(2), we therefore conducted unit root 
tests to determine the number of unit roots in the series under consideration.  

The functional form of the model used to investigate the social implication of economic and political 
empowerment of women in Nigeria is therefore specified as: 

LRGDP = f(LGCF, LJDLLF) 
Where LRGDP = natural log of gross domestic product; LGCF = natural log of gross capital formation, 

LJDLLF = natural log of the interactive factor (LJDLLF) (i.e., interaction of female labour force participation 
(FLFP) and juvenile delinquency (JDL)) This is incorporated in the model as a relevant explanatory, control 
variable). 

LRGDP = α0 + α1LGCF + α2LJDLLF +  t 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobb%E2%80%93Douglas_production_function
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobb%E2%80%93Douglas_production_function


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Where μ = residual term. The α‟s represents the long run parameters. 
Thus, the general ARDL model follows the following equation: 

∆LRGDPt   = α0t + ∑ β11∆LRGDPt-1 + ∑β12LJDLLFt-1 + ∑β13∆LGCFt-1 +  1t 

Where, (ΔLRGDP and ∆LRGDPt-1) are the dependent variables in first-difference and level, and (ΔLFLFP, 

ΔLGCFt-1 and LFLFP, LGCFt-1) are the independent variables in the model in first-differences and levels. Indeed, 

the α0 is the intercept, β11… β15, ϕ1… ϕ5 are the parameters of variables and   is the error term of the model.  
 

4. Results and Discussions 

4.1. Economic and Political Empowerment of Women and Economic Development in Nigeria 
This subsection presents the results of the trend analysis of women‟s empowerment in Nigeria from 1990 to 

2018 and its implications for economic growth. In order to underscore the context of the study, the discussion 
starts with an overview of the trends in female labour force participation (FLFP) and the proportion of women in 
parliament from 1990 to 2018. To juxtapose the trend in women‟s empowerment in Nigeria, the following three 
largest economies in Africa (South Africa, Egypt and Algeria) and the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China 
and South Africa) are selected for the comparative analysis. The BRICS are emerging economies with regional 
dominance but were similar to Nigeria in economic performance in the 1960‟s when Nigeria gained political 
independence. Four of the BRICS countries are also characterized by large population like Nigeria. 
 

4.1.1. Trends Analysis of Female Labour Force Participation 1990 - 2018 
Figure 1 shows female labour force participation in Nigeria by taking a look at the proportion of women that 

participate in paid employment. It reveals that proportion of Nigeria‟s women in labour force dwindled throughout 
the period under review. The average proportion for instance, was 35.4 per cent 1990-1994 but in 2015-2018 it is 
found to be 21. 3 per cent. That is, despite the advocacy towards women‟s empowerment, the trend is not even on 
the rise. While within the same period, only Brazil recorded some level of appreciation in FLFP from 
approximately 46 per cent to 48 percent. Egypt remains constant over the entire period but surprisingly China, 
India and South Africa like Nigeria were equally on the decline. This shows that in the majority of the countries 
understudied, the trend of female labour force participation is even still on the decline in spite of the amount of 
capital outlays for women‟s empowerment advocacy in both developed and developing economies. This view is 
corroborated by the finding of Verick (2018) that shows that though more than 307 million women have joined the 
labor market in the past 20 years, women still account for just 39.2% of the global labor force.  
 

 
Figure-1. Female Labour force participation 1990 – 2018. 

                            Source: WDI (2019). 

 

4.1.2. Proportion of Female in Parliament 
Figure 2 shows the Proportion of Female in Parliament in Nigeria by taking a look at the proportion of women 

that are elected into parliaments to participate in legislative activities at the national level. It reveals that 
proportion of Nigeria‟s women that involves in parliamentary activities in Nigeria is on the increase though with a 
slight decrease at the tail end of the period under review. The average number of women in parliament in Nigeria 
for instance, was approximately 4 per cent in 1999-2003 and increased to almost 7 percent in 2011-2015 but 
declined slightly in 2015-2019 (see (INEC, 2019)). Thus, it is obvious that political participation of women in 
Nigeria has been on the rise since the inception of the fourth Republic in Nigeria. Comparatively, for instance, 
women representation in Algeria shows the highest increase from approximately 5 per cent in 2000-2004 to 
roughly 30 per cent between 2015 and 2018 and, followed by South Africa from 30 per cent to around 42 per cent 
within the same period. Egypt moved from 2 per cent to above 12 per cent under same period.  
 



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Figure-2. Proportion of female in parliament, 2000-2018. 

                        Source: WDI (2019). 

 

4.2. Social Implications of Economic and Political Empowerment of Women in Nigeria 
4.2.1. Descriptive Statistics  

The statistical features of the data under consideration including the mean, the minimum and maximum values, 
standard deviations, kurtosis, skewness and the Jacque-Bera for the data in their levels. The descriptive statistics 
provide a historical background for the behaviour of our data. Table 3 details the descriptive statistics for each 
series.  
 

Table-3. Descriptive Statistics. 

Statistics LRGDP LGCF LFLFP LJDL LJDLFP 

 Mean 7.500684 3.242562 3.878085 11.60285 44.99748 
 Median 7.4915 3.28009 3.8622 11.7483 45.47013 
 Maximum 7.852513 3.938836 3.921072 12.35469 47.66205 
 Minimum 7.204986 2.638039 3.852891 10.44242 40.27585 
Variance 0.0569777 0.1917075 0.000622 0.273608 4.215786 
 Std. Dev. 0.2387 0.4378441 0.0249391 0.5230755 2.053238 
 Skewness 0.14224 -0.0077698 0.663158 -0.5802762 -0.8673573 
 Kurtosis 1.39008 1.555577 1.773855 2.375225 2.655757 
 Observations 116 116 116 116 

 
 

4.2.2. Unit Root test 
The results of the unit root test Table 4  shows that all the series under study have unit root, i.e they are non-

stationary as depicted in Table 4 below. In particular, all specifications of ADF (with trend or drift) and PP tests 
could not reject the null hypothesis of a unit root process, even at a 10% significance level for all the variables at 
level. When the series in first difference are tested, the null hypothesis of a unit root process is rejected at 1 per 
cent significance level except for the LFLFP; according to all specifications of ADF and PP tests. Therefore, ADF 
and PP unit root tests conclusively show that all variables of study are I(1) except the FLFP that is I(2).  
 

Table-4. Unit Root test. 

Variable 

Augmented Dickey-Fuller 
Phillips-Perron Statistic 

With Trend With Drift 

Level First Diff. Level First Diff. Level First Diff. 

LRGDP -1.884 -3.136** -0.461 -3.201* -2.166 -3.862** 
LGCF -2.791 -4.84* -1.187 -4.822* -2.139 -5.956* 
LFLFP -1.865 -1.598 -0.516 -1.961 -1.826 -1.981 
LJDL -2.437 -4.92* -2.536** -4.897* -2.032 -6.034* 

LJDLFP -2.499 -4.926* -2.545* -4.909* -2.073 -6.04* 
        Note: *, **, and *** represents significance at 1%, 5% and 10% respectively. 
 

4.2.3. ARDL Bounds Test of Cointegration 
In this study, after determining the unit root characteristics of the variables, the bounds test of cointegration 

was conducted in order to analyse the long-run relationship between the variables. Table 5 reports the estimated 
F-statistics values for the models. The second row in the table represents the optimal lag length for the model, 
which was selected using the AIC criterion. 

The table shows no evidence of cointegration in the model. This implies that there is no long-run relationship 
between the selected variables. For instance, the estimated F-statistics value for the model is 2.393, which is below 
the lower bound I(0) critical values provided by Pesaran. et al. (2001) at 1%. That is, it is not significant and thus, 
we cannot reject the null hypothesis of no cointegration. Hence, we estimate a short-run model that is the ARDL 
equation rather than the ARDL long-run equation.  

From Table 6 below, the sign of coefficient reported for LJDLFP is positive and statistically significant. This 
implies that female labour participation directly leads to increase economic growth (GDP) but the increased female 
labour participation also leads to a rise in the juvenile delinquencies (JDL) and thereby, reduced the expected net 
increase in economic growth (GDP). That is, the increased economic growth due to increased female labour force 
participation is less than the expected increase. Thus, it is inferred that the social costs of economic and political 
participation of women in terms of the increased crime rate among youths and the level of insecurity in the country 



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overwhelms the economic benefits in term of increased economic growth. Meanwhile, for the gross capital 
formation (LGCF), though not surprising, the sign of the coefficient is negative but significant. This may be due 
the fact that there is a negative growth in capital formation (obsolete and depreciation) in many African countries 
which results in a decrease in economic growth (see Onyinye, Idenyi, and Ifeyinwa (2017)). 

 
Table-5. Cointegration Results. 

Estimated Model LRGDP (LGCF, LJDLFP) 

Optimal Lag Length (2,1,2) 
  

F-Statistics (Bound Test) 2.393 
  

Critical values 1% 5% 10% 
Lower Bound I(0) 5.15 3.79 3.17 
Upper Bound (1) 6.36 4.85 4.14 
R-Squared 0.6637 

  
Adj. R-Squared 0.6415 

  
F-Statistics 421.8166* 

  
Note: *, **, and *** represents significance at the 1%, 5%, and 10% levels, respectively. The Akaike Information 
Criterion (AIC) criterion is used to determine the optimal lag. The critical values are determined from Pesaran. et 
al. (2001). 

 
Table-6. Estimated coefficients of Autoregressive Distributed Lag ARDL (2,1,2) long-run results. 

Variables Coefficients Standard Error t-statistic 

LRGDP (-1) 1.682376* 0.0658449 25.55 

LRGDP (-2) -0.6977592* 0.064128 -10.88 
LGCF -0.0493248* 0.020248 -2.44 

LGCF (-1) 0.0406982* 0.0203099 2 
LJDLFP 0.0040157* 0.0014992 2.68 

LJDLFP (-1) -0.006892 0.0025079 -2.75 
LJDLFP (-2) 0.0032659 0.0014542 2.25 

Constant 0.1264991 0.0945996 1.34 
Note: *, **, and *** represents significance at the 1%, 5%, and 10% levels, respectively. The Akaike Information Criterion 
(AIC) criterion is used to determine the optimal lag. The critical values are determined from Pesaran. et al. (2001). 

 

4.3. Model Stability Test  
The stability of estimated model enhances its reliability for policy. We test the stability of the model with the 

plots of the cumulative sum of recursive residuals (CUSUM6). The plot is shown in Figure 3 below. 
It can be observed that the plot of the CUCUSUMSQ lies between the straight lines representing critical 

bounds at 5% significance level. This suggests that the (parameters of the) models are structurally stable, and 
hence the models could be relied upon for policy formulation. 
 

 
Figure-3. Testing the stability of the model: The CUSUM6 approach. 

 

5. Conclusion 
This study examined social implication of economic and political empowerment of women in Nigeria between 

1990 and 2018 from the standing point of the often neglected but not too palatable effect of female labour force 
participation on children, adolescent, family and the society at large.  

We estimated trend analyses and ARDL estimator with inclusion of control variables. We observed that 
proportion of Nigeria‟s women (between age 15 and 64) in labour force is on a downward trend between year 2000 
and 2018. The mean values for instance, was 35.4 per cent 1990-1994 but in 2015-2018 it is found to be 21. 3 per 
cent. On the political participation captured by the proportion of female representation in the parliament, we found 
that proportion of Nigeria‟s women that involves in parliamentary activities in Nigeria has been on the increase 
since the advent of the fourth Republic in 1999. The average number of women in parliament in Nigeria for 
instance, was approximately 4 per cent of total members of parliament in 1999-2003 which increased to almost 7 



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percent in 2011-2015 but with a slight fall to about 6 per cent in 2015-2019. Many factors such as increasing 
education of women, cost of living, attractive political largesse, family responsibilities to mention a few are among 
the factors responsible for this rising trend among women folks. For the realized increased incomes from female 
labour participation, the entire society have completely jettisoned the attendant negative impact of women influx 
into labour market on the society at large.  

Finally, we observed that the increased economic growth due to increased female labour force participation is 
less than what it ought to be. This implies that in spite of the resources committed to campaigns for economic and 
political empowerment of women, the social costs in terms of the increased crime rate among youths and the 
accompanied level of insecurity in the country in general still significantly overwhelmed the economic benefits in 
term of increased economic growth. Unfortunately, the gains from women employment are rarely noticed to be 
also accompanied by social losses. The poor upbringing and supervision of children due to female labour 
participation increases the probability of delinquency as a result of low self-control (see (Adebayo, 2013; Burt, 2019; 
Vazsonyi, Jiskrova, Ksinan, & Blatný, 2016)). Succinctly, this study successfully confirms a seemingly positive 
correlation between political/economic empowerment of women and economic growth but these economic gains 
are indirectly eroded by criminal activities among children and the youth.  

Flowing from the conclusions of the study, the following recommendations are proposed: 
i. The government as well as advocacy groups must channel the same efforts and resources devoted to 

campaigns for women empowerment into reversing the ugly trend of juvenile delinquency if the level of 
insecurity in the Nigeria is to curtail. 

ii. To stem this ugly slide, the proposed bill by the National Assembly and the 36 state Houses of Assemblies 
to increase the maternity leave from its current level of 3 months to 6 months should be fast-track and duly 
implemented across board in both public and private organizations. Though, this is already being 
implemented in one or two states of the federation (e.g Kaduna). 

iii. Our women need training and re-training (parent education) on child rearing responsibilities for them to 
appreciate the importance of their traditional role on the society at large. 

iv. There is a need for the government to further strengthen all the agencies (e.g NAPTIP, NDLEA) that are 
in charge of comprehensive national programs for the prevention and detection of all forms of physical, 
drug and sexual abuses of children and the rehabilitation of those that have already been abused. 

v. Governments at all levels need to ensure that all the youth who are deprived of a family and parental cares 
(e.g Alimajiris in the North and Area Boys in the South) have access to appropriate forms of alternative 
cares where their rights are fully safeguard.  

vi. Incentives should be provided by the government and other stakeholders to encourage women to take up 
only formal jobs which do not interfere with their domestic responsibilities and their bonds with the 
children. 

 

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