Workers’ Perception of Gender Issues and Women’s Place in the Banking Industry in Nigeria

Abstract

Women play vital roles in the society but despite the social responsibilities attached to their being, they have since inception, received unequal recognition especially in the allocation of strategic and leadership positions in organizations. This however, is due to some cultural stereotypes, abuse of religion, traditional practices, patriarchal structures and the disequilibrium in the work-life spheres of female employees. All these affect female employees’ upward movement politically, socially, economically and institutionally especially in Nigeria. The theory of gender stratification was adopted in explaining this study. Quantitative and Qualitative data were collected through the use of questionnaires and in-depth interview. The quantitative data were analysed using frequency and percentage distribution while content analysis was used for qualitative data. The sample comprised 257 respondents selected through the use of purposive and simple random sampling techniques. Findings showed that majority of the respondents agreed that there is under-representation of female employees in leadership positions in the banking industry. Majority of the respondents are of the opinion that socio-cultural and religious factors culminated to the marginalization of female employees. Based on these findings, bank management is therefore recommended to apply fairness in the distribution of strategic roles and responsibilities among its employees without gender prejudice.

Keywords:  Banking industry, Gender issues, Gender stratification theory, Marginalization, Perception