Investigating the Effects of Child Brides in Nigeria’s Labor Market

Achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is an integral part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) agreed upon by governments across the world. However, evidence shows that there still exists a significant gender gap in the labor market including labor force participation and employment, as well as earnings, across most developing countries, particularly the Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) region. In recent ILO studies (2022 & 2023), the gender gap in labor force participation for individuals aged 25-54 years was 29.2 percentage points. Female participation was much lower (61.4%) compared to male participation (90.6%) primarily due to early marriage.

The SMART Challenge

Nigeria has the highest number of child brides in Africa with about 22 million girls getting married before the age of 18. This is of increasing concern as evidence shows that girls who get married before the age of 18 are more likely to be out of school, experience domestic violence, and have an increased likelihood of complications from pregnancy and childbirth (a leading cause of death for girls aged 15-19 years). However, knowledge of the effects of early marriages on women’s participation in Nigeria’s labor market remains limited. Dr. Osadolor is currently looking to develop a community-based intervention along with policy recommendations that her NGO, Girls’ Power Initiative (GPI), can adopt. To achieve this, the SMART research team needs to assist in:

1. Conducting a comprehensive literature review to understand the existing research on early marriage, gender equality, and labor market outcomes in Nigeria and other emerging economies
2.  Reviewing existing policies and legal frameworks related to child marriage in Nigeri
3. Data mining, cleaning, modeling, and analysis of the 2013 and 2018 Demographic and Health Surveys for Nigeria to analyze the relationship between the age of marriage    
4. Formulating policy recommendations, e.g. education programs, community engagement strategies, and economic empowerment initiatives that GPI could adopt to address early child marriage in Nigeria

2023-2024 SMART Fellows

Elizabeth Arrazola

Master of Professional Studies in Global Development, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Project: Investigating the Effects of Child Brides in Nigeria’s Labor Market

Elizabeth is a passionate youth advocate with a focus on assisting under-resourced communities and unaccompanied minors in the United States. Prior to attending Cornell, Elizabeth worked as a Paralegal for both detained and released unaccompanied minors at the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project (FIRRP) in Arizona and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) in Los Angeles. She has also lived and worked in Morocco and Thailand where she developed programming to engage youth in technical skills training and developed ESL programming for refugee youth and their families. Elizabeth holds a Bachelor of Arts in Geography from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Arsham Maqbool Bari

Master of Public Administration, Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy

Project: Investigating the Effects of Child Brides in Nigeria’s Labor Market

Arsham is a first-year Master of Public Administration student concentrating in Human Rights and Social Justice. She has over three years of experience as a development practitioner in Pakistan and has worked on a number of portfolios, including gender-based and minority rights, digital literacy, citizen journalism, and civic engagement. Most recently, she researched legal, policy, and administrative gaps relevant to the protection of women's marriage rights under Pakistan’s law and executed capacity-building and training of diverse stakeholders, including government representatives, civil society experts, criminal justice stakeholders, youth, and minority groups, on the same issue. 

Kristin Condon

Master of Public Administration, Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy

Project: Investigating the Effects of Child Brides in Nigeria’s Labor Market

Kristin is a first-year student pursuing a Master's in Public Administration with a concentration is Human Rights and Social Justice- focused on educational inequities among at-risk and vulnerable populations. Previously, Kristin was a high school English teacher for seven years in varying school districts across Ohio, where she excelled in building rapport with her students and helping to align curriculum to meet district goals. She received her undergraduate degree in Integrated English Language Arts Education (Grades 7-12) from Miami University. Kristin is excited to bring her knowledge and experience of collaboration, writing, communication, analytical and critical thinking, and interpersonal skills to her team. 

Carlene Mwaura

Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations, College of Industrial and Labor Relations

Project: Investigating the Effects of Child Brides in Nigeria’s Labor Market

Carlene is a fourth-year student with minors in Law and Society, Feminist, Gender, and Sexualities Studies, and International Relations. As an undergraduate research intern for the Africa Futures Project, she delves into identity-based discrimination and migration in Kenya's education system. Last summer, she documented Adverse Childhood Experience victims' life stories in collaboration with the nonprofit SCDI in Hanoi, Vietnam. Her active engagement in projects addressing societal disparities underscores her dedication to inclusivity and social progress. 

Bea Radtke

Bachelor of Arts in Global Development, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Project: Investigating the Effects of Child Brides in Nigeria’s Labor Market

Bea is a sophomore majoring in Global Development with a concentration in Social and Economic Development. She is passionate about data-driven research, ESG, and fostering positive global change. Her experience includes data analysis on economic trends while working as a Rawlings Presidential Research Scholar recipient as well as hands-on field work evaluating climate change stressors affecting the crops of Montana farmers. Bea works on campus with Global Action Impact Association (GAIA), empowering students to design and implement sustainable solutions through an innovative competition. Bea looks forward to collaborating with Girl Power Initiative and her SMART team members.

Project Lead and Faculty Advisors

Nneka Esther Osadolor

PhD Student, University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and Lecturer, Department of Economics, University of Benin, Nigeria

Nneka is a Ph.D. candidate of Economics under the AERC Collaborative PhD Programme (CPP) at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. She lectures in the Department of Economics at the University of Benin, Nigeria, and is also a  Research Associate at the Centre for Economic Policy and Development Research (CEPDeR), Covenant University, Nigeria. Growing up in a developing economy, Nneka directly experienced the challenges of poverty and inequality, driving her to seek solutions for these pressing social issues. Her research interest focuses broadly on Development Economics and Applied Microeconomics including labour markets, financial inclusion, poverty, inequality and gender issues. In 2022, she was a visiting fellow at the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University, and a fellow in Cornell’s Structural Transformation of African Agriculture and Rural Spaces (STAARS) Program. Currently, Nneka is a visiting fellow at the Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA) at UC Berkely. Nneka holds a MSc in Economics from the University of Ibadan, a MicroMasters in Data, Economics, and Development Policy from MIT, and a BSc in Economics and Statistics from the University of Benin.

Hongdi Zhao

PhD Student, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

Hongdi is a Ph.D. Student in Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University. Her research interest is the intersection of development economics and machine learning. Hongdi holds an MPA in international development from Cornell University and a B.S. in Statistics from China. She worked as a research fellow at Harvard Kennedy School, a research associate at Yale Economic Growth Center, and a research analyst at IFPRI before coming back to Cornell to pursue her Ph.D. study. Previously, she worked and lived in Tanzania, Kenya, and conducted research in India.​

Dr. Fridah Mubichi-Kut

Professor of Practice, Executive Director SMART (Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Teams), Applied Economics and Policy, Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

Fridah is the executive director of the Student Multidisciplinary Applied Research Teams (SMART) Program and Professor of Practice in Applied Economics and Management at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University. Perplexed by the paradox of the hungry farmer, her research is focused on understanding the role economic development policies, social networks, information and communication technologies (ICTs) play in the promotion of new agricultural innovations. Fridah values and understands the responsibility multidisciplinary teams have in solving complex problems and developing sustainable solutions. Trained first as an international business administrator and later social scientist, she has taught, worked, and supported various organizations and projects internationally. Most recently, she worked as director of monitoring and evaluation within a USDA agricultural commodity research program and previously a social scientist within two USAID- Feed the Future innovation projects. Fridah holds a Ph.D. degree from the University of Missouri Division of Applied Social sciences.  

Field location: Virtual