Socio-economic demography of waste workers on Lagos dumpsites: analysis of gender differences

This paper examines the socioeconomic activities of solid waste workers at five dump sites in Lagos, Nigeria. It draws on doctoral fieldwork which adopts a feminist approach using the mixed methods of participant observation, questionnaire survey and interviews. The survey included questions on age, gender, education, marital status, and years on the job, ethnicity, working hours, income, and family data, such as number of children and other family income earners. The findings revealed the impact of gender on livelihood strategies. Age, marital status, religion, ethnic origin, working hours and income are some of the characteristics which were found to differ by gender among waste workers. In terms of earning capacity, the average mean income of all the workers was greater than the minimum wage as at the time of the study. This paper calls for an inclusive policy design which integrates the informal waste sector, bridges gender differences and also promotes sustainable development.