Financial Inclusion and Economic Empowerment of Women in Rural Area Projects in Mwingi West, Kitui County, Kenya.

Abstract

There is consensus that advancing women's economic participation is essential to achieving global goals such as ending poverty, realizing women's rights, and achieving gender parity in political and economic power. The purpose of this research was to determine whether or not women's access to financial services had an impact on their economic empowerment in rural regions, namely in Mwingi West Sub County. To determine the extent to which access to credit services influences economic empowerment of women in rural area projects, to establish the extent to which opening a bank account influences economic empowerment of women in rural areas, to determine the extent to which access to formal financial institutions influences economic empowerment of women in rural areas, and to establish the extent to which savings in formal financial institutions influences economic empowerment of women in rural areas were the four goals of the study. The research aimed to interview 84 different women from Mwingi West Sub County who were all participants in community savings groups. However, only 78 of these women from 28 different groups agreed to participate in the interviews. Both quantitative and qualitative data, for purposes of analysis, were obtained via the use of a descriptive survey design. The investigation was carried out using SPSS Version 23, and the findings were tabulated for presentation. The findings of the study indicate that the composite average and composite S.D for access to credit were 4.202 and 0.834 respectively. This suggests that using the likert scale, the majority of the respondents agreed that (average 4.202) that access to credit influences Economic Empowerment of Women Rural Area Projects. The study also found that the composite average and composite S.D for economic empowerment of women in rural areas were 4.202 and 0.834 respectively. The results of the study show that the composite average and composite S.D for having a bank account were 4.244 and 0.756 respectively. This indicated that using the likert scale, the majority of the respondents agreed that having a bank account influences Economic Empowerment of Women Rural Area Projects (average 4.244). The study investigated whether or not opening a bank account influences the economic empowerment of women. Access to formal financial institutions was shown to be another factor that impacts xiii Economic Empowerment of Women Rural Area Projects. This was another finding of the research. According to the likert scale, the majority of respondents agreed that (average 4.343) indeed access to formal financial institutions influences the economic empowerment of women. The composite average and composite S.D for access to formal financial institutions were 4.343 and 0.577 respectively. This indicated that the majority of respondents believed that access to formal financial institutions influences the economic empowerment of women. When it comes to savings and their effect on the economic empowerment of women, the findings of the study show that the composite average and composite S.D for savings in formal financial institutions were 4.276 and 0.946 respectively. This suggests, when measured on a likert scale, that the majority of respondents agreed (average 4.276) that savings in formal financial institutions have an effect on the Economic Empowerment of Women Rural Area Projects. The study's results suggested that women's access to a variety of financial goods and services is a key factor in women's economic empowerment, and that financial institutions and other relevant stakeholders may help enhance women's access to these products and services. The study highlighted the need for comparative research to determine whether or not the variables that impact women's economic empowerment in rural settings are the same as those that influence women's economic empowerment in urban settings.