When Expertise Isn't Enough: The Unwritten Rules That Tax Women's Leadership and Earning Power
A man and a woman start their careers in the same organisation. They have similar qualifications, similar potential, and the same ambition to succeed. Ten years later, their career projections look very different. What happened in between?
Career progression is often explained through performance, and qualification, but women face social expectations that shape how they are supported and rewarded. From assumptions about marriage and pregnancy at the hiring gate to unequal access to sponsorship, visibility and career opportunities once they are recruited.
And for women who do reach senior leadership, success can come with its own set of expectations.
In this episode of The Norms Lab Podcast, Anjola Ayodele sits with Toyin Seth-Ogungbemi, People & Culture Systems Builder and Partner, Human Resources at Poiema Consult, to explore how social norms shape women's leadership and earning power.
The conversation explores:
How assumptions about marriage, pregnancy, and commitment influence how female professionals are appraised
Why women may receive less sponsorship, visibility, and opportunities than men in professional workplaces
Whether these unwritten rules are reinforced by employers, families, or wider social expectations
What organisations can change through policy, leadership, and workplace culture
The question is not only whether women have the expertise to lead. It is whether the social norms around them allow that expertise to truly count.
#NormsLabPodcast #GenderNorms #WomenInLeadership #WomenAtWork #SocialNorms #Nigeria #BehaviourChange
15 Sept 2026
“Just to Take the Edge Off” - Why Young People Turn to Substances, and Why It's So Hard to Ask for Help
When life gets heavy, why can it feel easier to say “I’m fine” and turn to drugs than to say “I need help”?
For many young people, pressure from work, school, family, and expectations to “be strong” can leave little room to admit that they’re struggling.
So when a friend offers something to “take the edge off”, saying yes can feel easier than asking for help.
But what makes asking for help so difficult in the first place?
In this episode of The Norms Lab Podcast, Anjola Ayodele sits with Dr Adekunle Adesina and Donald Chukwuma to explore the link between mental health, drug use, and help-seeking among young people.
They unpack how pressure and social expectations shape the way young people cope, why drugs can become an easier option than talking about distress, and what it would take to make asking for help feel normal and safe.
▶️ Watch on YouTube: LINK
#NormsLabPodcast #MentalHealth #DrugUse #SocialNorms #YouthMentalHealth #Nigeria
9 Sept 2026
Owned But Not Used: The Household Norms Standing Between Women And Malaria Prevention | Norms Lab Podcast Episode 27
A woman was seriously ill with malaria and needed to get to a health facility. She didn’t have the money to pay for care, nor did she have her husband’s consent to seek clinical help.
When a community health worker called her husband, he asked:
“Who gave you permission to take my wife to the health facility?”
It sounds extreme. But what if the same expectations are shaping how families prevent, respond to and treat malaria?
Who decides when malaria is serious enough to seek care? Who controls the money for malaria treatment? Who gets to use the mosquito net when there isn’t enough for everyone in the household? And what happens when a woman is expected to put her family’s health before her own?
These decisions are shaped by social and gender norms around authority, money, caregiving and what families consider normal. Even if it’s “just malaria,” these norms can influence how urgently families seek care and treatment.
In this episode of The Norms Lab Podcast, Anjola Ayodele sits with Dr. Ayebatari Lawson and Stella Ikebueze to explore malaria through a social norms lens, looking at how household expectations and power shape prevention, care-seeking and treatment.
The conversation explores:
* Why owning a mosquito net does not always mean everyone in the household gets protected against malaria
* How household decision-making and control over money affect malaria prevention and care
* Why “it’s just malaria” can influence when people seek treatment
* And what malaria programmes can do differently when they take these norms seriously
Getting nets, medicines and health services to people is only part of the story. What happens inside the household can determine whether they are actually used.
#NormsLabPodcast #Malaria #SocialNorms #GenderNorms #Nigeria #BehaviourChange
Who has been a guest on Norms Lab
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Haishat Olufadi-Ahmed
Oluwafunmilayo Raheem
Haishat
Funmi
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20,824
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YouTube
76
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27
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