Open Access Te Herenga Waka-Victoria University of Wellington
Browse

The Subversive Influence of Informal Institutions on Formal Equity Policies in Nigerian Universities: Gender Stakeholders' Perspectives

Download (317.6 kB)
journal contribution
posted on 2025-01-19, 13:56 authored by Oluwakemi Igiebor
In an effort to address the systemic problem of gender imbalance in academic leadership, fifteen universities in Nigeria have established gender centres and adopted institutional gender policies. With these formal equity measures in place, it is assumed that women can easily progress to academic leadership; however, this has not been the case. Using interview data gathered from two purposively selected universities in Nigeria; this paper unveils the perspectives of policy stakeholders on the ‘informal rules of the game’. The gender policy stakeholders constitute selected individuals responsible for providing the context and environment for formulating and implementing the gender policy; as such, it is imperative to consider the influence this structure exerts. Informed by Feminist Institutionalism (FI), the analysis was the extent to which gender norms and practices, embodied in informal rules and institutional legacies, challenge the intent of gender equity policies. Findings revealed two major discourses: the nestedness of informal selection in the gender policy formulation process and the gendered logic of appropriateness in gender policy implementation. This paper, therefore, contributes to the FI literature, providing a broader understanding of how the subversion of formalised policies limits the prospect for a positive institutional gender change and undermines women’s academic leadership progression.

History

Preferred citation

Igiebor, O. (n.d.). The Subversive Influence of Informal Institutions on Formal Equity Policies in Nigerian Universities: Gender Stakeholders' Perspectives. Journal of Gender, Culture and Society, 3(1), 19-31. https://doi.org/10.32996/jgcs.2023.3.1.3

Journal title

Journal of Gender, Culture and Society

Volume

3

Issue

1

Pagination

19-31

Publisher

Al-Kindi Center for Research and Development

Publication status

Published online

Online publication date

2023-03-11

ISSN

2754-3293

eISSN

2754-3293

Usage metrics

    Journal articles

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC