Modeling Gender Gap in Access to Empowerment and Agricultural Productive Resources: Evidence from Farming Households in Kaduna State

Abstract

This research examined gender access to empowerment and agricultural productive resources with a gender dimension. Respondents were selected with random and stratified sampling techniques. Primary data were generated through the administration of well-structured questionnaire. Generated data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Women Empowerment Index (WEI), Global Gender Parity Index (GGPI) and Gini Inequality Index (GII). The result shows that 37% and 60.20% of women and men had access to empowerment programmes respectively in the study area. WEI result showed that women had low access to empowerment variable (WEI = 0.67), the GGPI revealed that women (GGPI = 0.63) had low parity as against the men (GGPI = 0.77) with higher parity index. Furthermore, the Gini Inequality Index that there is inequality in access to agricultural productive resources between men (GII = 0.286) and women (GII = 0.383). The research concluded women had low empowerment and low access to agricultural productive resources as against the men. The research recommended that government programmes should be mainstreamed to ensure that more women have access to them and the extension department should design their programmes to ensure that more women have access to extension services in the study area.