Gender balance in access to quality education is a crucial item on the agenda of the Millennium Development Goals. But this ideal appears beset by a number of barriers, especially at higher education level. This study investigated the problem of sexual harassment in the Nigerian university system as a barrier to the educational advancement of women. Specifically, the research focused on the practice of coercing female students to engage in sexual relations with male lecturers ("phallic attack") as a condition for scoring good grades. The research drew its sample from female students selected from 14 faculties in two Nigerian universities. The study finds that there is a relatively high prevalence of sexual harassment in these universities and this affects female students adversely. The ripple effect is that women are not given a learning atmosphere conducive to enjoying academic freedom and optimizing their potential in educational development. This contributes to widening the gaps between men and women in Nigeria. The study also finds that lack of adequate high-quality sex education in Nigeria increases the vulnerability of younger female students to sexual harassment. It recommends the establishment of an advocacy programme as well as enlightenment campaigns to educate students, staff, authorities and parents about sexuality and sexual harassment; strengthening the penal system in the universities with powers and resources to fight the menace; and the formation of a network by women staff in various universities to work with potential and actual victims in order to expose the culprits, obtain justice and curb the trend. (Contains 1 table.)