Effect of The Socio-Economic Characteristics of Rural Women on Their Poverty

The specific objectives of the study were to: identify the manifestations of poverty among the rural women, determine the level of economic poverty among the rural women and examine the effect of the socio-economic characteristics of the rural women on their poverty status. [...] The analysis of the sources of income of the women revealed that majority of the women (98%) were economically active as they had at least one source of income, a condition which would likely impact positively on the poverty status of the women. [...] The result of the analysis showed that 66% of the respondents said they were excluded from important decision making process in the home and in the community, even when the outcomes were of considerable importance to them. [...] The communal exclusion stated by the women included decisions such as the relocation of the only standard hospital with maternity facilities from the close proximity of the women to a so called permanent site without considering the opinions of the women or how a pregnant woman experiencing complications would cope in the event of an emergency. [...] Also, the use of these three measures of poverty clearly indicates that the rate of poverty amongst the rural women in the study area is relatively low when compared with the total population of the people that are poor in Nigeria (72%) as provided by the World Bank African Development Indicators of the year 2005.