Women Eeconomic empowerment and households food security: a comparative study of Nigeria (Osun state) and Benin Republic (Couffo Region)

Abstract

This research is a comparative study that assessed the women economic empowerment status as it relates to household food security in Osun State Nigeria and Couffo, Region Benin Republic. The was conducted with the view of comparing the levels of women’s economic empowerment in both countries, identifying the constraints to women economic empowerment, estimating the determinants of women economic empowerment in both countries and the relationship between women economic empowerment and household food security. A total of 325 women (Osun State, Nigeria and Couffo Region, Benin) were selected through the use of a well-structured questionnaires. Descriptive Statistics, Alkire and Foster Multi-dimensional index, and Logit Regression Models were employed to analyze the data obtained from the Respondents. The study reveals that women in Osun State, Nigeria are relatively older (43.03±12.146 years) than those of Couffo Region, Benin (37.12±8.364 years).Furthermore, women in Couffo Region, Benin spend 8 years in school when compared with the women in Osun State with mean years of formal education of 7 years. The result also indicated that women (63.1%) in Couffo Region, Benin were more empowered than their counterparts (56.3%) in Osun State, Nigeria. The major constraints to the economic empowerment of women in the study areas were inability of Government to provide loans, corruption from the part of Leaders, and lack of collaterals. Particularly, Years of Education, Age and Occupation Status, of the Respondents in Osun State Nigeria, were the major determinants of women economic empowerment, while income and marriage are the major determinants of women economic empowerment in Couffo region Benin. The per capita on households’ food expenditure per month, in Osun State Nigeria was found to be ₦10,131.57, while that of Couffo Region Benin was ₦5,143.00 (10,286 CFA). Households in Nigeria (69.2%) are more food secured than households in Couffo, Region Benin Republic (46.2%). The result also revealed that there is a significant relationship, between women economic empowerment and household food security status in each of the study areas, at 10% level of significance. The study therefore recommends that Government, households and all stakeholders in the educational sector of Nigeria should intensify their efforts in encouraging women education and investment in adult literacy for women so as to increase their level of empowerment. It is also important for households and Government in Nigeria to improve access to productive resources in order to increase output of the women from their income-generating activities which is primarily in agricultural production enterprises to boost their income-earnings thus to enhancing their economic empowerment. It was also recommended that there is the need for increase in the income-diversification activities for households in Benin as to boost their empowerment status.