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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how women’s lack of safety limits socio-economic well-being in Nigeria through a capabilities lens, focusing on education and employment. It highlights structural barriers and calls for prioritizing women’s safety to expand their opportunities and achieve development goals.

Paper long abstract:

This study critically examines the extent to which women’s lack of safety limits women’s socio-economic wellbeing in Nigeria from a capabilities perspective. Safety is central to women’s access to systems that ensure physical, emotional, social, and economic wellbeing in fulfilling their potential. This study focuses on two domains of socio-economic wellbeing: education and employment. A significant portion of literature on the Nigerian context has raised the issue of gender-based violence women face in society both in public and private spaces, such as physical violence, sexual harassment, stalking, discrimination, and social exclusion (Othman et al., 2024; Okafor et al., 2023; Ajayi et al., 2021; Oboh et al., 2021; Irabor and Irabor, 2018; Dosunmu and Adeyemo, 2018). These factors contribute towards shaping the real freedoms and opportunities women have to live a safe and empowered life. Using an online survey with women aged 15-45 years old in Nigeria, this study examines women’s perceptions and experiences of lack of safety within five capability dimensions, drawing on Nussbaum’s (2003) list of capabilities. This study, through the capabilities lens, focuses not only on Nigerian women’s lack of safety but emphasizes expanding freedoms for them to fully participate in society. By highlighting structural inequalities, power dynamics, and barriers that enable the persistence of a lack of safety for women in Nigeria, this study contributes to strategies to prioritize women’s safety in achieving broader development goals.

Keywords: Capabilities approach, women’s safety, socioeconomic wellbeing, Nigeria, education, employment