Abstract

The public transport sector in Nigeria has often been stereotyped as a male-dominated industry. Over the years, the upsurge in unemployment rate and the necessity of economic empowerment have pushed women to adopt commercial tricycle riding as a means of livelihood. In this public lecture, I interrogate the perception of women as tricycle riders by passengers and commuters in Ikeja, Lagos State, South-western Nigeria in terms of their positionality, evaluation, and how they negotiate their identities in a dominant masculine space. The study is anchored on the social constructionist notion of “doing gender” (West and Zimmerman 1987) which advances understanding of gender as a routine accomplishment embedded in everyday interaction. Data for the study were sourced through qualitative ethnographic approaches involving focus group and semi-structured interviews with thirty participants (N=30) who were purposively sampled. I observe that women are rising to the moment in terms of capacity, competence and performance standard as tricycle riders, however, gender stereotypes are constraining their acceptance, visibility, and patronage in the business. In this way, unfavorable career evaluations tend to promote bias against women tricycle riders thus I conclude that gender discrimination is deeply entrenched in the public transport sector in Nigeria. The study therefore advocates for a more inclusive career culture and practices where men and women can feel valued as they eke out a living without discrimination and marginalization.

Keywords: Women; Stereotype; Tricycle Business; Social Role Theory; Nigeria

Eyo Mensah is a professor of anthropological linguistics in the Department of Linguistics, University of Calabar, Nigeria and is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA), University of Ghana, Legon. His research interests include morphosyntax, pragmatics, language and identity/naming, language and sexuality/gender, youth language and African studies.  He is AHP/ACLS Postdoctoral Fellow, Leventis Postdoctoral Researcher (University of London), and Firebird Anthropological Research Fellow. He was also a Senior Research Fellow in Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), University of Freiburg, Germany (2021). He is a beneficiary of many grants including the Endangered Languages Development Programme (ELDP) (University of London) grant and TETFUND National Research Fund (Abuja). He is the General Editor of the Journal of the Linguistic Association of Nigeria (JOLAN).

Press Releases:

• "African governments must take concrete steps to end gender stereotypes – MIASA Fellow'', Radio Universe, 6th April 2023