ABSTRACT

The study was on women empowerment through credit supply in Umuahia south local government area of Abia State. Random samples of the 120 respondents were chosen from the study area for the study. Data were collected with the use of well-structured set of questionnaires. Data analysis was done using frequency distributions, percentages, means and multiple regression analysis. The study shows that about 33% of the women were middle — aged, 50.83% of the respondent had atleast secondary education and 48.33% had large household size of at least seven members. The study further revealed that 98% of the respondents had access to credit wi1h 75% of the them obtaining horn informal sources. The accessibility was influenced by the following variables Membership of Cooperatives Society, Annual Income and Distance had a positive influence on access to credit this was because cooperative societies engage in on-leading loans and theref.re makes it easier for their members to obtain loans. Annual income had positive influence because most of the respondents have an annual income of at least N251,000 which is high so this enables them to acquire properties which serves as collateral when obtaining loans. Distance between respondent's home and lending institution had a positive influence on accessibility was because financial institutions prefer giving out loans to people whose background they can trace, this enables them to monitor and get back their loans when due. In other words the shorter the distance the greater the chances of obtaining loans. The factors which influenced amount of credit are level of education, membership of cooperative society, annual income, distance between the respondent's home lending institution and household size. This posits that membership cooperative society, higher annual income and higher level of education improve women's access to credit and consequently their economic empowerment. Government should formulate policies and programmes such as microfinance schemes for women and land reformed policy that improve women access to land and which enhance women's access to productive assets that increase their economic empowerment. Also women should be encouraged 16 obtain loan from formal sources by organizing loan schemes in banks especially in our community banks.