Gender Disparity in Real Estate Investment: A Case Study of the Staff of the Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria

Abstract

Women have unparalleled strength and an unwavering passion for success and accomplishment. This is evident in the involvement and contributions of women in many professions, including academia. Nevertheless, women participation in real estate investment has been considerable despite the importance and benefits of real estate investment. In view of this, this paper examined gender disparity in real estate investment among the staff of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Ondo State, Nigeria with a view to encouraging more women participation in real estate investment. FUTA staff (junior and senior cadres) were the target populations while structured questionnaires were randomly administered on the staff. Cross tabulation, correlation analysis, and Mann Whitney U Test were used to analyze the data collected. The study revealed that the percentage of males in active service in FUTA is about twice that of females and men significantly outperform women in real estate investment in FUTA. The study also showed a statistically significant relationship between gender and real estate investment at p value ≤0.05 thus identifying gender as a factor influencing real estate investment while there are also significant differences in the opinions of the males and female staff regarding real estate investment decision. The study concluded that gender has a significant impact on real estate investment and therefore recommended the sensitization of staff on the importance of real estate investment, provision of loans, mortgages as well as salary reviews without any form of discrimination so as to encourage real estate investment and allow for adequate retirement plans.