Nigerian women are legally barred from some of the best-paying formal jobs in the country. Sections 55, 56, and 57 of Nigeria’s Labour Act prohibit women from working in certain industrial sectors and at night. A popular argument is that the law was written with good intentions: hazardous conditions, unsafe commutes, a society that hasn’t done enough to protect women in public spaces.

Why it Matters

The World Bank’s Women, Business and the Law 2026 report scores Nigeria at 50 out of 100 on legal gender equality, and the Labour Act is part of why that number isn’t higher. The logic behind protective exclusion legislation is that dangerous conditions exist, so women should be kept away from them. The problem is that this puts the burden of protection on women rather than on employers and the state. A genuinely protective framework would mandate safer conditions, enforce anti-harassment standards, and provide secure transport for everyone.

State of Play

  • The sectors covered by Labour Act restrictions, mining, construction, manufacturing, and industrial night shifts, are among the better-paying categories in Nigeria’s formal economy.
  • By restricting women’s access to these sectors, the Labour Act doesn’t make women safer. It concentrates them in lower-wage, less protected informal work instead.
  • The ILO has formally moved away from this kind of protective exclusion legislation globally, because the evidence shows it depresses women’s wages without meaningfully improving their safety.

On the Deeper Angle: Women are Already There

The data shows women are present in mining and construction, just not formally. The ILO recognises women as a significant segment of artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) workers globally, working as diggers, processors, and transporters of minerals.

Women are already in the quarries and on construction sites, they’re just doing it without contracts, minimum wage, or safety protections.

The law that was supposed to protect them has instead ensured that their protection is the one thing they can never access.