Author(s): O. V. C. OKENE & JOSEPHINE MBUGERE & CHIKA WODO | Volume 21 (1)Feb., 2024
Abstract
The recognition and treatment accorded to males and females have not been equal through times. In fact, in every part of human society, women’s positions are defined by their male folk. This unequal treatment has affected many areas of women’s lives including their right to property, inheritance, and rights at the workplace. Other areas where these unequal treatments are evident are in domestic life and socio-economic life. Discrimination has eaten deep globally on political, social, economic, domestic and educational levels. Law survives on the tripod of justice, fairness and equality. Equality demands that both men and women be accorded a fair treatment before the law in any society and no law should discriminate against the sexes. The debate on women’s right and gender equality is currently an issue of concern at the national, regional and international levels. Adopting the doctrinal research methodology, this article found that the extant laws regulating workplace inequality against women in Nigeria include the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), the Labour Act 2004 and the Employee Compensation Act 2010. It is equally the finding of this article that these laws are not direct legislation on the guarantee of women rights and gender inequality at workplace and as such, they are not adequate to guarantee such protection. It is recommended that Nigeria should incorporate provisions of the Kenyan Employment Act into her domestic regimes.