Abstract

Okereke H. Humble

The study analysed rural women’s time utilization on farm, non-farm and leisure activities in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State. The study adopted random sampling technique in the selection of respondents for the study. One hundred women were randomly selected and questionnaire was the main instrument for data collection. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, analysis of variance and regression analysis. The findings showed that age of the women influenced the time spent on farming activities negatively and significantly. Marital status, educational level, household size, and income level positively and significantly affected the amount of time spent on farming activities. In the case of non-farming activities, age significantly and negatively affected the amount of time spent by rural women on non-farm income generating activities. Income and educational level positively and significantly affected the amount of time spent by rural women on non-farm income generating activities. Age, marital status, educational level, and household size negatively affected the amount of time spent by rural women on leisure while income positively and significantly affected the amount of time spent by rural women on leisure. The daily average amount of time spent by rural women on farming activities, non-farming activities, and leisure were 10.81, 6.30 and 6.90 h respectively. The result of the analysis of variance revealed that there is a significant difference in the amount of time spent on farming activities, nonfarming activities, and leisure by rural women. This study therefore concludes that time resource allocation and utilization of rural women is significantly dependent on their socioeconomic characteristics. Also, time utilized in farming, non-farming and leisure activities significantly differ from each other. As a way of enhancing the productivity of rural women, appropriate gender policy is necessary to enhance the welfare of the rural women and most importantly agricultural transformation is of paramount importance to reduce the drudgery of rural women.