Poverty Management among Rural Women in Bende Local Government of Abia State, Nigeria

Except if it is well managed, poverty will breed poverty, and its effect will be transmitted through time from one generation to another. This realization prompted this study which assessed the poverty status of rural women in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State, Nigeria. One hundred and twenty (120) randomly selected women served as respondents, while data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and probit regression model. Results showed the mean capita expenditure of the respondents as N10,038.13, indicating that sixty (60) percent of women in the study area were poor. The probit regression result showed that age (-1.755*), education (8.608***), household size (2.239*) and income (2.5485***) affect poverty status of the rural women. The study recommends, among other things, promoting opportunities for empowering educationally-disadvantaged women to diversify into non-farm, income-generating activities in order to reduce their vulnerability to poverty, and as a means of managing or alleviating poverty in the area.