Socio-economic activities of cooperative societies and women empowerment in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

The society has created a widening transgenerational disparity in the socio-economic development of the genders in many developing countries including Nigeria. The relevance of cooperatives in bridging this wide difference in mainstreaming gender in economic and social activities as a model for other groups, businesses and organisations have been scarcely explored. The thrust of the study therefore, was to examine the effect of social and economic activities of cooperative Societies on women empowerment. The study adopted a cross sectional survey, a non-experimental, descriptive research method generating primary data from 118 cooperative members from Anambra state. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and mean scores were used to present data obtained in order to achieve the study objectives. In order to test hypotheses and/or to ascertain the effect of social and economic activities of women cooperatives on empowerment two regression models was estimated. The findings reveal that the identified social and economic activities of women cooperative societies in Anambra state have significant influence on women empowerment. Based on the findings, the recommendations made include that concerted efforts should be made in raising awareness among rural women in the area on the benefits of cooperative societies and Cooperative societies should enhance their economic and social functions to enable the women benefit maximally and thereby elevating the status, social profile and dignity in their communities.