Enhancing Gender Equity through Policy and Practice: Evidence from TVET Institutions in Nigeria.

This study investigates the influence of gender policyimplementation and institutional commitment to Technical and VocationalEducation and Training (TVET) on gender inclusion and equity for women inNigeria. Despite constitutional provisions and international frameworksadvocating for gender equality, women remain underrepresented intechnical education and leadership roles across the country. A surveyresearch design was adopted, involving 240 academic and administrativestaff from 18 public polytechnics across Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones,selected through a multi-stage sampling technique. Data were collectedusing a structured Likert-scale questionnaire distributed via Google Formsand snowball sampling through professional platforms including ASUP,SANNIP, and NASU. Data interpretation was performed by the use ofdescriptive statistics and multiple regression analysis. The results indicatethat promoting women in STEM (b = 0.541, p < 0.05) was the mostinfluential in enhancing gender inclusion, including condemning bullying (b= 0.326), sponsoring women (b = 0.315), and encouraging women to take upmanagement roles (b = 0.249). On the contrary, the mere employment bywomen (b = 0.060) was not a significant predictor of gender inclusion. Theresearch establishes that gender policies when instituted with aninstitutional commitment could considerably improve the gender equity inTVET. It suggests organizational changes, such as more effective policyimplementation, more women in leadership roles, specific sponsorship, andSTEM programs. These measures will be essential towards reducing thegender disparities and ensuring women become a significant stakeholder inthe socio-economic growth of Nigeria.