| dc.description.abstract | Literature has shown that rural women are more likely to be credit constrained than men of equivalent socio-economic conditions given the restrictions by legal regulations, customary rules, cultural norms and beliefs; and inheritance rights to have access to and control over assets that can be accepted as collateral such as land in order to access credit (Fletcher, 2009 and Diagne et al., 2000). The study aimed to assess how gender influences access and utilization of microfinance services in Bugembe town council while investigating factors associated with access to credit by women and men in Bugembe town council; assessing factors associated with women and men’s saving behavior in Bugembe town council; establishing the factors associated with utilization of financial resources for investment by men and women in Bugembe town council; and suggesting strategies that enhances men and women’s access and utilization of microfinance resources in Bugembe town council. This is a cross sectional study that used both quantitative and qualitative approaches to collect data from men and women aged 18 years and above who were available in the different households, markets, and trading centers at the time of the interviews in Bugembe town council. Study results showed that financial literacy and occupation were significantly associated with access to credit. Gender of respondents, financial literacy, household headship, and marital status were significantly associated with savings while financial literacy, gender, household headship, and occupation were significantly associated with investment (p<0.05).Results also showed that majority of the people in Bugembe town council utilize savings and investment services of MFI’s, however fewer of them seek credit services. In conclusion more women than men utilize all the three categories (credit, savings, and investments) of financial services. Financial literacy is the only key explanatory variable demonstrating a significant relationship with all the three categories of financial services in Bugembe town council. The study recommends the improvement of gender relations to enhance access and utilization of Micro-finance services to improve uptake of microfinance services by men and women in Jinja and the entire country. | en_US |
