For the urban poor in most cities of developing countries, informal waste recycling is
a common way of earning a living. And women are the most vulnerable group to
poverty within the urban poor population. In Kaduna metropolis, an ancient city in
the North West Nigeria, women are only playing a very fringe but yet complementary
roles in the waste collection, sorting and recycling processes, which are fast
becoming catalyst for livelihood for the underprivileged urban dwellers. This
represents a wider spectrum of informal solid waste management issues in Northern
Nigeria. At the household level, it was observed during the study that women and
children play a very dominant role in collection and sell of recyclable materials to
itinerant waste collectors. The results show 55% of recyclable materials are being
sold by women and 40% by children while only an insignificant percentage of 5%
were men. A distinct gender division of labour was observed as women are almost
conspicuously absent at the higher levels of solid waste recycling processes. This is
largely due to cultural construct, poor coordination and lack of capital. This paper
investigated these fringe roles of women within the value chain process in the
informal sector of solid waste management business, and made recommendations for
their integration into the mainstream policy as a poverty reduction strategy.