Assessment of the Roles of Women in Quarry Operations in Ekiti State, Nigeria

This project shed light on the participatory roles of women in quarry operations. Three quarries were selected as case study and they are Mac Engineering Construction Limited, Ikere-Ekiti, Hajaig Construction Nigeria Limited, Ikole-Ekiti, and Hajaig Construction Nigeria Limited located in Ifaki-Ekiti, all in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The study made use of fifty structured questionnaires which comprise of quantitative and qualitative questions. The results of the study showed that the level of participation of women in quarry operations is low. Only 24 % of the workers in the quarries are female, most of them are married and they are within the age of 18 -40 years. These women who are majorly unskilled are employed as bookkeepers, office assistants, security guards, cooks, cleaners and some operate as service providers. They cope with the plight of gender discrimination, low wages, and poor working condition just to mention a few. There is need for relevant stakeholders to respond to inequalities in access to resources (capital, information, education and training e. t. c. ) in order to better position these women to drive positive change in the quarry industry.