Abstract:

Abstract

Women in Lagos State’s informal sector depend on flexible work arrangements to maintain their economic activities while fulfilling their parenting duties, but researchers have not yet established a complete framework to investigate their particular work experiences. This literature review investigates four essential research variables which together determine how flexible work arrangements affect women who work as parents in the urban informal economy. The study examines how caregiving obligations affect workforce behaviour, how women use different work-life balance methods to succeed in their careers, and how socio-economic obstacles prevent people from working, and how motherhood and professional identity create different experiences for women. The review reveals how Lagos informal sector variables interact by utilising evidence from 81 empirical studies which were analysed according to a multilevel theoretical framework that included Ideal Worker Theory, Role Conflict Theory, Work/Family Border Theory, and Intersectionality Theory. The research shows that (H₁) caregiving responsibilities lead to decreased job attendance and reduced income, while (H₄) work-life balance methods help people advance their careers but add to their mental burden, and (H₂) low-income mothers face higher challenges to participate in work because of socio-economic obstacles, while (H₃) social expectations about motherhood create clashes with job requirements which result in identity fragmentation and lower negotiation power. The review provides policymakers and community organisations as well as researchers with an evidence-based framework which connects the four related variables to gender-responsive urban economic policies for Nigerian cities.

Keywords: informal sector; flexible working; working mothers; work-life balance; Lagos State; Nigeria; socio-economic barriers; intersectionality; professional identity; workforce dynamics

Please choose your submission type: Developmental Paper

Primary Track: Gender in Management

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Mrs. Lorenta Atim

Biography