Gender-Based Cultural Discrimination and Women’s Development in Nigeria: An Exploratory Qualitative Study of Women from Selected Cultural Backgrounds

Abstract

Cultural traditions can sustain identity, belonging and social continuity, yet they can also become vehicles for unequal power when expectations are applied differently to women and men. This study explored how women from selected Nigerian cultural backgrounds understood gender-based cultural discrimination and its implications for their development. A qualitative descriptive design was adopted. Seventeen women were purposively recruited through participant referrals and were engaged using a six-question semi-structured interview guide. The available interview material was reorganised using reflexive thematic analysis and interpreted through an African feminist, intersectional and women’s-empowerment lens. Five interrelated themes were identified: son preference and reproductive blame; constrained choice in marriage and education; widowhood, inheritance and economic insecurity; gendered control of sexuality and bodily integrity; and cumulative restrictions on women’s resources, agency and achievements. Participants’ accounts suggested that discriminatory expectations rarely operated in isolation. Rather, they worked through families, customary institutions, social sanctions and uneven access to law, producing consequences for schooling, livelihoods, property ownership, health, dignity, decision-making and social participation. The analysis also cautions against presenting culture as fixed or portraying women only as passive victims. Women may negotiate, resist, reinterpret or, under social pressure, participate in enforcing gender norms. The study concludes that sustainable change requires community-led norm transformation, accessible legal protection, survivor-centred services, girls’ education, women’s economic security and stronger implementation of existing rights frameworks. Because the sample was small and non-probabilistic, the findings illuminate experiences and meanings rather than the prevalence of practices across Nigeria.