Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is an integral part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed upon by governments across the world. However, evidence shows that there still exists a significant gender gap in the labor market, including labor force participation and employment, as well as earnings, across most developing countries, particularly in the Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) region. In recent ILO studies (2022 & 2023), the gender gap in labor force participation for individuals aged 25-54 years was 29.2 percentage points. Female participation was much lower (61.4%) compared to male participation (90.6%), primarily due to early marriage.

The SMART Challenge:

Nigeria has the highest number of child brides in Africa, with about 22 million girls getting married before the age of 18. This is of increasing concern as evidence shows that girls who get married before the age of 18 are more likely to be out of school, experience domestic violence, and have an increased likelihood of complications from pregnancy and childbirth (a leading cause of death for girls aged 15-19 years). However, knowledge of the effects of early marriages on women’s participation in Nigeria’s labor market remains limited. Dr. Osadolor is currently looking to develop a community-based intervention along with policy recommendations that her NGO, Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI), can adopt. To achieve this, the SMART research team needs to assist in:

1. Conducting a comprehensive literature review to understand the existing research on early marriage, gender equality, and labor market outcomes in Nigeria and other emerging economies.
2. Reviewing existing policies and legal frameworks related to child marriage in Nigeria.
   1. Assess how they are implemented at the national and local levels.
   2. Assess their effectiveness in reducing the prevalence of child marriage.
3. Data mining, cleaning, modeling, and analysis of the 2013 and 2018 Demographic and Health Surveys for Nigeria to analyze the relationship between the age of marriage and three primary labor market outcomes:
   1. Labor force participation,
   2. Annual wage earnings, and
   3. Workdays per year.
4. Formulating policy recommendations, e.g., education programs, community engagement strategies, and economic empowerment initiatives that GPI could adopt to address early child marriage in Nigeria.

Desired Team Skills

• Background in International Development, Applied Economics and Management, Economics, Statistics, Policy
• Knowledge/interest in labor economics and econometric modeling
• Strong writing and communication skills
• Strong time management abilities
• Team player – cultural humility, resilient, flexible.

Project Lead and Faculty Advisors

Nneka Osadolor | Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Benin, Nigeria

Hongdi Zhao | PhD Student, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

Fridah Mubichi-Kut | Professor of Practice, Applied Economics and Policy, Dyson School of Applied Economics & Management

        Field location: Virtual