WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION OF RURAL WOMEN IN NSUKKA EDUCATION ZONE OF ENUGU STATE

The study examined critically, women empowerment and poverty alleviation of rural women in Nsukka education zone of Enugu state. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for this study. The total population of this study was 411 registered women co-operatives socities in the two selected Local government areas in Nsukka Education zone of Enugu state comprising of Igbo-Etiti and Nsukka local government areas. Four research questions guided the study. There was no sample and sampling technique due to the fact that the population of the study was small and of manageable size. A structured questionnaire titled women empowerment and poverty alleviation questionnaire (WEPAQ) which contained forty items was used as an instrument for data collection. The reliability of the instrument was ascertained through trial-tested, with the overall reliability co-efficient of 0.82.Direct delivery Method was used for the purpose of administering an instrument for data collection. The instrument was face-validated by three experts and retrieving the questionnaire with the help of two research assistants. The four research questions were analyzed using mean and standard deviation. An overview of the findings showed that poverty alleviation programmes rural women engaged in include only the production of soya milk powder and detergent, factors that militate against women empowerment in rural areas include; gender disparity, illiteracy, some cultural belief such as men being superior to women, societal cultural activities and others. Based on the findings of the study, the study among others recommends that government should create the culture of industrial production and management in rural areas as a strategy to empower the rural women and ensure that fund meant for women empowerment and poverty alleviation programmes are properly utilized. Limitations of the study were identified and suggestions for further studies were made.