AS the world usher in 2026 , Nigerian gender advocates and women are no longer whispering their demands, from courtrooms and campuses to social media and the streets, they are insisting on dignity, representation, and justice. In 2026, the expectation is that the state listens, acts, and delivers.
Representation, visibility, and redefining success
In 2025, Nigerian women continued to make notable achievements across sectors, from arts and governance to activism and business, even as structural barriers around mobility, recognition, and access to opportunity persist
In 2026, advocates expect the government to address structural inequalities that limit women’s economic and professional advancement from political representation and equal opportunity access to funding gaps and media representation.
Analysts note that true gender progress, is not measured by symbolic victories alone but by whether ordinary women, especially those in rural, displaced, and low-income communities experience tangible improvements in safety, opportunity, and justice.
Tackling sexual harassment and GBV
Initiatives launched in 2025 like The ICIR sexual harassment project to combat sexual harassment and abuse in universities signalled a growing recognition of the scale of abuse in educational institutions.
In 2026, expectations are rising for the nationwide adoption of sexual harassment policies in tertiary institutions and passage of the sexual harassment bill.
Following the the BBC investigation and other cases of sexual harassment in the country’s higher educational institutions, the Nigerian Senate in 2019, proposed legislation aimed at preventing, prohibiting, and redressing sexual harassment of students in tertiary educational institutions.
The proposed bill prescribes 14 years imprisonment for any academic found guilty of sexual misconduct against students. However, more than four years after the senate passed the bill, it still awaits presidential assent to make it law.
Former president Muhammadu Buhari failed to sign the bill during his term, and incumbent President Bola Tinubu has yet to do so too, years after his aide assured Nigerians of the president’s support for the bill.
Expectations are also rising for independent reporting and disciplinary mechanism and protection for whistle-blowers and survivors of sexual harassment and abuse.
With tens of thousands of GBV cases recorded annually, Nigeria faces mounting pressure to strengthen survivor support systems, improve data transparency, and ensure specialised prosecution of sexual and gender-based crimes, which under international law, failure to act amounts to state negligence.
Reproductive rights debates
The suspension of the proposed Criminal Code Amendment Bill on abortion-related offences highlighted Nigeria’s unresolved tensions around reproductive rights. In 2026, advocates expect broader, evidence-based conversations grounded in public health, human rights, and medical ethics.
Global standards, including guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO), stress that punitive abortion laws do not reduce abortion rates but increase unsafe procedures and maternal mortality.
As Nigeria grapples with one of the world’s highest maternal death rates, campaigners argue that future legislative efforts must prioritise women’s lives, access to healthcare, and clarity in law rather than blanket criminalisation.
Nanji is an investigative journalist with the ICIR. She has years of experience in reporting and broadcasting human angle stories, gender inequalities, minority stories, and human rights issues. She has documented sexual war crimes in armed conflict, sex for grades in Nigerian Universities, harmful traditional practices and human trafficking.