The gender welfare gap in Nigeria : an Oaxaca decomposition analysis in household survey data

M.Com. (Development Economics)Abstract: The study examines the welfare gaps between male- and female-headed households in Nigeria in 2004 and 2012. To achieve this purpose, we use the Nigerian Living Standard Survey and the General Household Survey data from the World Bank. The study add to the literature by employing the semi-logarithm form of household consumption per capita per adult equivalent model. The study further uses three comparative regressions approaches, namely the survey-weighted linear regression, the robust regression and the Tobit regression to estimate the models. In addition, the Oaxaca decomposition technique and the general decomposition technique is used to identify the factors that explain the changes in the gaps The estimated results reveal that secondary technical, tertiary and koranic education exhibited the highest effects on the welfare of male- and female-headed households. Household headed by females engaged in farming occupations were disadvantaged in both 2004 and 2012, while the welfare of those engaged in non-farming occupations increased significantly in 2012. Our results also show that marital status had a negative impact on the welfare of male and female-headed households in 2004. But in 2012, widowhood and marriage became more advantageous in female-headed households. The advantage of male-headed households in the divorce group remained constant. Moreover, Muslim religion had better results for female-headed households in both years, while for Christianity, beneficial results were only seen in 2012. Furthermore, female-headed households located in the southern part and in the North-Centre were better off in 2004. In 2012, the results reveal that households headed by females became more advantaged in all the six geopolitical zones. Location in urban areas was associated with negative impact on welfare in 2004, but households in which females were heads were better off. However, in 2012, male household heads’ advantage became evident in urban areas relative to rural areas. The dependency ratio exhibited positive and constant effect on the welfare of male-headed households in both years, while in the case of female-headed households, the effect became negative in 2012. The overall gender welfare decomposition results suggest that there was a decrease in the gender welfare gaps in favor of female household heads in 2012. We further find that marital status, religion and geopolitical zones variables played important roles in explaining the changes in the gaps. Our results confirm the existence of variations in the gender welfare gaps across the different quantiles of..