Women Involvement in Decision Making Process in Deposit Taking SACCOs in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Sarah Chelimo and Dr. Peter Gutwa Oino
School of Arts and Social Sciences,
Department of Sociology, Gender and Development Studies,
Kisii University, Kenya
Email: oinogutwae@gmail.com

Abstract: Women in decision-making positions play a crucial role in developing meaningful gender mainstreaming strategies, gender inequity is one of the underlying causes of low productivity as it cripples their effective participation. The aim of this paper is to examine the levels of women involvement on decision making process in deposit taking SACCOs in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The study used cross-sectional research design and targeted 11 managers and 867 delegates. A sample size of 266 delegates and 11 managers was used in the study. Proportionate and simple random sampling were used to select delegates while purposive sampling was used to select the managers. The study used questionnaires and interview guides to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data were analyzed by SPSS (version 25) and the findings presented using frequencies and percentages. Qualitative data was analysed descriptively and presented in narrations and quotations. The study revealed that there was a significant positive correlation between women involvement in terms of voice and decision making (r = .453; p = .000). The paper concluded that women involvement in deposit taking positively influenced decision-making process. It is recommended that there is need to encourage women to actively participate in decision-making process by ensuring that their voices are captured in the decision making process.