Cecilia Akintomide 
Many, including women, have embraced the fallacy that achieving gender parity is simply a social cause, “good to have”, or worse still a fad. This error in judgment has led to its deprioritisation on the corporate agenda, and accordingly, in the allocation of time, financial resources and human capital. During the COVID pandemic, the gender agenda took a beating, particularly with female workforce representation having suffered disproportionately.
Closing the gender gap and achieving gender parity is, and should be prioritised as, an economic dynamic, with impact on business success and the bottom-line. Missing this fundamental understanding is a critical risk factor which sets up many businesses and economies for systemic and structural underperformance. Nigeria is on the path to achieving a $1trn economy by 2030. Serious attention to closing gender gaps, particularly in the workforce and in accessing economic opportunities will be mission critical.
First, closing the workforce gender gap alone will increase global GDP by US$28tn as observed in a McKinsey Global Institute Report. Bringing it home to Nigeria, the ILO observed in 2019 that closing gender gaps could add $229bn to Nigeria’s GDP by 2025. We should also recall that 49.73% of the world’s population is female. This is a constituency that cannot be ignored. United Nations, in its World Population Prospects 2024, observed demographic shifts in the ratio of women to men with the population of women exceeding that of men, from the age of 50 years. Notably, this is the age range when women tend to have increasingly disposable income, rich experience, and independence of perspectives and views which influence decisions and performance. In the McKinsey Women Matter Report, it was observed that women determine an estimated 70% of household purchases. Without women in significant numbers and in positions of influence in decision-making, companies run a real risk of waste and inefficiency, producing misaligned, unresponsive, or unattractive products, from the consumers perspective.
Catalyst, a leading U.S. organisation for advancement of women’s issues, in its seminal study “The Bottom Line: Connecting Corporate Performance and Gender Diversity”, established that there is a link between gender diversity and corporate financial performance using two indicators, ROE (Return on Equity) and TRS (Total Return to Shareholders). Catalyst studied a sample of 353 Fortune 500 companies and found that companies with the highest representation of women in top management had higher financial performance compared to companies with low female representation. The Dean of the Lagos Business School also observed that a 20% increase in female board representation is linked to a 4% increase in ROA (Return on Assets). The IFC in partnership with NGX, in their gender gap assessment of 30 of the most capitalised companies in Nigeria, also observed that there was strong evidence that companies that are gender diverse perform better. Similarly, McKinsey in its Women Matter Report, established a correlation between the presence of a significant number of women as members of Management Committees (a minimum of 3 out of 10), and a company’s financial performance. These companies were found to have a higher market capitalisation and operating margin (at least twice as high) compared to companies with lower female representation at a similarly senior level. Other studies have shown the positive correlation between gender diversity and business indicators such as company profitability. It is important to note from the McKinsey Report, that representation for box ticking purposes is not enough. Decisive or influential representation should be the objective. This requires a significant representation of women in senior and strategic roles where they can influence decision-making.
In the World Economic Forum 2025 Global Gender Gap Report, our region, Sub-Saharan Africa, is ranked sixth out of eight in the global parity score. Nigeria, in the same report is ranked 124th out of 148 economies, and is estimated to only achieve gender parity by 2158 (in 123 years). However, there is an increasing positive narrative with respect to the workforce gender gap.
Finally, we must remember, it is about business, performance and the bottom-line. We must therefore address closing gender gaps and achieving parity with the seriousness, discipline and rigour it deserves, void of emotion.