Characterizing female breadwinners among Nigerian primary school teachers.

This study explored the characteristics and prevalence of female breadwinning among primary school teachers. A cross-sectional survey design was used to obtain data from 2428 out of 22,666 female primary school teachers in Enugu State, Nigeria. A questionnaire previously used in Nigeria to study female breadwinners was adapted and used for data collection. The female breadwinning measure aspect of the questionnaire had Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.927. Data were input into IBM-SPSS version 23 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square test of relationships. Significant relationships were established at p values ≤ 0.05. The study revealed 73.6% prevalence of female breadwinning out of which 37.1% were co-breadwinners, 36.5% were primary/sole breadwinners. Female breadwinners among primary school teachers were characterized by older age, being a single mother, higher educational qualification, and salary, teaching in urban public schools, larger family size as well as having dependent children, elderly and chronically ill persons. Policy implications and research directions were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]