C. A. Agbebaku

Despite women’s movement over the past several decades into some sectors of the labor force traditionally occupied by men, the overwhelming majority of Nigerian women remain in traditionally female occupations. Most Nigerian women in the village and city markets, as the case may be, engage in buying and selling a limited range of goods and foodstuff. Women have found themselves increasingly in administrative support services such as clerical officers, typists, secretaries and what have you. Others prepare and sell food, or depending on the prevailing agricultural system work on their own farms or assists their husbands in farm work. Such activities always complement the incomes of the families. Sometimes as claims for negligent deaths involving women show – the women can be considered as the major breadwinners of their families. A husband whose income as a laborer was far outstripped by the income of the wife through her trading activity was able to successfully claim that he was a dependent of the late wife and was entitled to a share of the damages that other dependents claimed.