Health
Maternity, childcare hinder women’s career advancement – Report
Uthman Salami
Maternity and childcare responsibilities are the biggest factors limiting women’s advancement to leadership positions, with 74 per cent of respondents identifying them as major barriers, a 2026 Proten International report has revealed.
The report, titled “Exploring Challenges to Women’s Career Advancement in the Private and Public Sectors,” was presented in Lagos on Thursday at the Proten International business executive roundtable.
The report noted that women were “very well represented” at entry level and up to mid-management, but their representation tended to decline as they progressed higher up the career ladder.
The report, which examined the experiences and views of people working in Nigeria on women’s career advancement in the private and public sectors, was based on 3,004 valid survey responses.
Of the respondents, 62.3 per cent worked in the private sector, 30 per cent in the public sector, 4.1 per cent were self-employed or entrepreneurs, while 3.5 per cent were not currently employed.
Women constituted 60.8 per cent of the respondents, while men accounted for 39.2 per cent.
The respondents also had varying levels of professional experience, ranging from less than four years to more than 16 years.
According to the report, women were making progress in reaching senior positions, but such progress was “still not guaranteed.”
It stated, “Many respondents believe women can reach leadership positions, but fewer believe that such progress happens very commonly.
“The most significant challenges identified are maternity and childcare responsibilities and difficulties with balancing work and personal life.
“These challenges were mentioned far more often than issues such as mentorship, professional networks, workplace policies, or family and community support.”
The report also highlighted a significant difference between how men and women viewed workplace support, noting that women were less likely than men to believe their organisations had adequate structures to support female employees during major life events such as pregnancy, childbirth and caregiving.
Flexible working arrangements after childbirth emerged as the most preferred solution, followed by workplace childcare support.
The report further revealed that 63.2 per cent of the women surveyed had experienced some form of career slowdown due to pregnancy, childbirth or caregiving, with the figure significantly higher among women with four or more years of professional experience.
Speaking at the event, the Managing Director of Proten International, Debora Yemi-Oladayo, said the research was significant in addressing the challenges preventing women from reaching their career peak.
She said, “We therefore undertook this research to better understand some of the challenges behind this trend and explore the initiatives and support structures that can help address it.
“As a female executive, this subject resonates with me personally. I have first-hand experience of the challenge of balancing demanding professional responsibilities with the equally important demands of home and family. I have also watched many talented female professionals navigate this same tension over the years.
“The findings of this research reinforce this reality, with familial and childcare responsibilities emerging as significant factors affecting women’s career progression.
“Without appropriate support, a period of stepping back from work to focus on family can become a longer-term career disadvantage.”
Speaking on “Why Women’s Career Must Become a Business and Advancement Economic Imperative,” the guest speaker, Ibijoke Faborode, said technological advancement and automation were changing the way work was measured and creating opportunities for more flexible working arrangements.
She said, “The world of work is shifting in our favour. Technology and automation are moving the measure of work from presence to value. Most senior roles can be done more flexibly or remotely than ever before.
“But it is important to note that not every woman wants a remote role. Flexibility must be a choice based on preference, not a consolation prize for a woman whose realities in the workplace refuse to accommodate that. Remote work as a choice is empowerment.
“Remote work as the only option is exile from rooms where promotions can’t be decided.”
Faborode also called on companies to track the number of women who leave the workforce after childbirth, stressing the importance of data in developing effective policies and support systems.
“As I said, the data. For companies within your portfolio, it would be good to have an assessment of women who leave after childbirth.
“Because, again, if we are to cater to that entire economy or infrastructure, we need to get data right.
“So the logic is very simple. Invest in human capital. Unlock productivity,” she said.
She further warned against creating a situation where women were forced to choose between their careers and families, saying such a trend could have implications for the future workforce.
She said, “What I want us to take from this is that many young women today have watched what the world calls a strong woman. In fact, they were our mothers, so we called them by their name.
“The one who does everything alone until she runs out and completes her freedom means choosing to carry on the family. A society that forces women to choose between work and family eventually gets less support.
“If the next generation opts out, who exactly will be our workforce? So there is an emergent situation, not just in Nigeria, but in the world at large. If more women continue to choose to carry on the family, the world will go into extinction, and that’s just a fact.”
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