Characterizing female breadwinners among Nigerian primary school teachers

ABSTRACT

This study explored the characteristics and prevalence of female breadwinning among primary school teachers. A cross-sectional survey design was used to obtain data from 2428 out of 22,666 female primary school teachers in Enugu State, Nigeria. A questionnaire previously used in Nigeria to study female breadwinners was adapted and used for data collection. The female breadwinning measure aspect of the questionnaire had Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.927. Data were input into IBM-SPSS version 23 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test of relationships. Significant relationships were established at p values ≤ 0.05. The study revealed 73.6% prevalence of female breadwinning out of which 37.1% were co-breadwinners, 36.5% were primary/sole breadwinners. Female breadwinners among primary school teachers were characterized by older age, being a single mother, higher educational qualification, and salary, teaching in urban public schools, larger family size as well as having dependent children, elderly and chronically ill persons. Policy implications and research directions were discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Female breadwinning
• family characteristics
• primary school teachers
• Nigeria

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Uju I. Nnubia

Uju Ifeoma Nnubia is a Ph.D scholar and a lecturer in Family and Child Studies, Department of Home Science and Management, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She obtained her bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Nigeria. She has research interest in issues that border on women, children and families in the communities.

Vivienne N. Ibeanu

Vivienne N. Ibeanu is a Professor of Human Nutrition with special emphasis in community and public health nutrition. She currently lectures in the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She has attended and presented research papers in many international and national nutrition conferences and has many academic articles in reputable national and international journals.

Franca O. Okechukwu

Franca O. Okechukwu is a senior lecturer in Family and Child studies, Department of Home Science and Management, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She obtained her Master's and Ph.D from University of Nigeria and has published many research articles in the area of family and children.