Influence of Microfinance Credits on the Socio-economic Status of Women in Edo State, Nigeria

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