By: Bello Humulkhair
During my undergraduate years at a university in Northern Nigeria, I noticed that many of the lecturers and researchers I encountered were men.
It made me wonder: Where are the women?
Are women less interested in these positions, or are there things that happen much earlier that make it harder for girls to eventually reach them?
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that perhaps we are asking the question too late.
Before the professor was a professor, she was a girl. Before the researcher became a researcher, she was a student trying to understand what was possible for her.
So perhaps instead of asking only, “Where are the women?”, we should also ask, “What happened to the girls?”
It Starts With Confidence
A girl may have the ability to succeed but still doubt whether she belongs in certain spaces.
When girls repeatedly hear that certain careers, positions, or responsibilities are better suited to men, they may begin to limit themselves before anyone else does.
Confidence is built through encouragement, guidance, and the opportunity to try. A girl who is constantly told to think smaller may eventually believe that certain ambitions are simply not meant for her.
Information Matters
You cannot pursue an opportunity you do not know exists.
Girls need to know what careers are available, what educational pathways lead to them, what opportunities they can apply for, and what steps they need to take.
Career guidance should therefore begin much earlier. Schools and communities can introduce girls to different professions, scholarships, leadership opportunities, and career pathways.
A girl should not have to discover an opportunity by accident.
If she does not know that a door exists, how can we expect her to knock?
The problem is not only that some girls leave school. In parts of Northern Nigeria, many girls still struggle to remain in education in the first place. UNICEF reports that the net attendance rate for girls in lower secondary school is just 15.8% in Sokoto and 27.6% in Katsina, compared with 48.8% nationally.
Then There Are The Beliefs Girls Grow Up With
In some families and communities, girls are still raised with the idea that their ambitions should have limits.
Marriage and family may be presented as the final destination, while a career is treated as something secondary.
There is nothing wrong with marriage or being committed to family. The problem is when being a woman becomes a reason to discourage her from pursuing education, building a career, or taking up leadership.
Marriage should not automatically mean the end of a woman’s professional journey. Men and women both have responsibilities at home, and sharing those responsibilities can make it possible for both to grow.
UNICEF identifies harmful gender norms, child marriage, early pregnancy, and domestic expectations among the factors that can hinder girls’ education and development in Northwest Nigeria.
Exposure Matters Too
It is difficult to imagine yourself in a space you have never seen anyone like you occupy.
A girl who has never met a female researcher, engineer, doctor, professor, entrepreneur, or leader may have a limited idea of what is possible.
This is why role models, career talks, mentorship, and community programs matter. Girls need opportunities to see different paths and meet people who can show them what those paths look like.
Seeing someone else do it can make a possibility feel real.
So What Do We Do?
If these barriers begin early, the response must begin early too.
First, we need to make opportunities visible. Girls should have access to career information, educational guidance, scholarships, and programs or initiatives that help them understand how to prepare for the future they want.
Second, we need to build confidence. Parents, teachers, and mentors should encourage girls, but encouragement should go beyond saying, “You can do it.” They should also help girls understand how to do it.
Third, we need to challenge the beliefs that tell girls to make their dreams smaller. A girl’s ambition should not be treated as a threat to her future family.
Finally, we need to increase exposure. Schools and communities should create opportunities for girls to meet women in different professions, ask questions, and learn from their experiences.
This approach can work. UNICEF’s Girls’ Education Project Phase 3 brought 1.5 million girls into school across six northern states, while girls’ enrolment increased by 64% and gender parity improved substantially. The program combined community mobilization, financial support, school improvements, and efforts to challenge social norms.
But this is not the responsibility of girls alone.
Parents, schools, communities, institutions, and mentors all have a role to play. Girls also have a role in taking advantage of the opportunities available to them and continuing to develop themselves.
If we want to see more women in academia, research, leadership, and other influential spaces, we cannot wait until they become women before we begin investing in them.
We have to start with the girls.
Because before we ask where the women are, perhaps we should first ask:
What happened to the girls?
Bello Humulkhair is a young media professional undergoing internship programme at QuickPR Global Ltd
