Breaking barriers: navigating gender norms and the glass ceiling in Niger

Purpose Traditional patriarchal structures and cultural practices continue to exclude, dominate and marginalize women in West African societies. The purpose of this paper is to explore the question of how a small minority of women in Niger manages to break the glass ceiling to enter the formal workspace and obtain positions in both private and public sectors in a deeply patriarchal society. Design/methodology/approach Through an inductive case study of Niger, this study draws on extensive fieldwork between 2019 and 2024, including in-depth interviews and focus groups. Findings The findings of this study reveal that Nigerien women who advanced into professional careers within the formal economy used three adaptive strategies: acquiring support from male relatives, balancing professional and personal lives and achieving academic excellence. These strategies enabled them to navigate and mitigate gendered structural challenges. However, somewhat paradoxically, they did so without threatening the patriarchal structures on which the gender stereotypes and norms hindering their inclusion rest. Hence, while women challenged gender norms in a manner which allowed for their educational and professional progress, they simultaneously upheld and reinforced the very same patriarchal structures. Originality/value Theoretically and empirically, this paper explores the factors that have facilitated and contributed to women taking and making space for themselves in a society shaped by stereotypical gender norms. This study provides an in-depth study of changing gender relations in Niger, a state which so far has received scarce attention in both the academic and policy-related literature.