Abstract
This paper examines the influence of microfinance credits on womens’ socio-economic status in Edo state in both microfinance that offer health-related services and those that do not. The Objectives include examining the process through which women access microfinance loans and the role of microfinance on women’s socio-economic status. Social action and functionalist formed the theoretical frameworks. Questionnaire was administered to 750 purposively selected females’ microfinance clients with 400 drawn from Microfinance Institutions that offer health related programs and 350 drawn from microfinance institutions that do not offer health related services. Qualitative data were elicited from 14 In-depth Interviews (IDIs) with union representatives, 20 Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) with microfinance officials and 8 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with clients. Although, more women from microfinance without health related services reported experiencing more difficulty in accessing loans (24.7%) than those win microfinance with health related services (5.5%), study findings still revealed that access to microfinance positively influenced women’s socio-economic status (income (r=.023), occupation (r=.043) and education (r=.051). Qualitative data also buttressed the role of micro credit in that it enabled clients contribute to meeting household needs, expanded their businesses and generally reduced poverty. While the study concludes that microfinance empowers women socio-economically, it still argues that the very poor women in the society for which microfinance is targeted are still unreached and therefore poverty alleviation is not maximally achieved through this intervention. Thus, more funds and support from government, philanthropists and international agencies are required for effective poverty alleviation. Keywords : Health-related, Microfinance, Poverty, Women empowerment, Socio-economic, Poverty alleviation DOI : 10.7176/JPID/48-04
Highlights
This paper examines the influence of microfinance credits on womens’ socio-economic status in Edo state in both microfinance that offer health-related services and those that do not
This is further compounded by the experience of poverty-induced sicknesses such as malaria and HIV/AIDS which according to Dunford (2002) have formed part of the priority concerns in the millennium development goals (MDGs)
This paper examine the influence of microfinance on the empowerment of women and does this by comparing the groups from microfinance banks with health related services and those without health related services and the implication it www.iiste.org has for poverty alleviation in Nigeria
Summary
This paper examines the influence of microfinance credits on womens’ socio-economic status in Edo state in both microfinance that offer health-related services and those that do not. Actions, according to him, have both intended and unintended consequences with everyone usually aware of the intended consequences, sociological analysis are required to uncover consequences Relating this to the study, the structural functional perspective offers a useful insight into the intended and unintended consequences as well as the functional roles of microfinance institutions as poverty alleviation intervention which empowers women and affects their level of income, education, expansion of business and provision of capital for new ones as its intended consequences or function. This enables women to become financially independent and reduces their level of poverty. Women are empowered and able to assist their spouse, family members and children and which may be viewed as an indirect function of microfinance the intervention is viewed as a strategy adopted to improve the general wellbeing of the clients and in turn their families
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