Women Asset Ownership and Household Poverty in Rural Nigeria

Abstract: Several methods have been adopted in studies involving household poverty but very few focused on structural causes and constraints to poverty. Women being most times the homemaker occupy a very important position in the household. This study employed Women Asset Approach to assess household poverty in South-West Nigeria.  Data collected from 363 respondents sampled through a multistage sampling procedure were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Probit Regression analysis. The average age of women sampled in study was 45 years while the average income was ₦33,158 (about $195 as at the time of the study). The Asset which had the highest value in the PCA reduction was mobile phone (0.4548) and the lowest Asset Value was black and white television (-0.0430). The mean of the poverty quintile which represented the poverty line was 1.6574. The Logit regression result revealed that education, marital status and income were significant determinants of poverty status in the study area. The study recommended that governments at all levels should enact and enforce policies which will make female education compulsory. Implementation of effective women empowerment programme should be embarked upon in order to encourage alternative sources of income and vocations thereby reducing household poverty.