Authors: Siriel Mchembe (Institute of Finance Management, Tanzania), Harrieth Mtae (The Open University of Tanzania) and Mato Magobe (The Open University of Tanzania).
Abstract: This study investigated about the influence of social structure on participation of women in public credit programs in Tanzania, using the analytical cross-sectional design. The study had the population of 1,156,714 women residing in Arusha and Simiyu to represent an income-rich but food-scarce zone and Mbeya and Katavi to represent an income-poor but food-abundant zone. The study employed a multi-stage sampling technique to select some female respondents. Two city/ district councils were selected from each region based on their performance in disbursing PO- RALGA loans, considering factors the number of women accessing credit and the volume of credit offered to women. Sixteen wards were finally picked to participate. Out of 415 women respondents, 287 were beneficiaries of the PO-RALGA Credit Program while 128 were non- participants. Data was collected through a questionnaire. The study employed the logistic regression model for data analysis. Evidence from the findings indicates that social structure variables, in terms of age, patriarchal system, education, daily family income and location, have positive impact on women’s participation in PCP. Conversely, variable like marital status and family size appeared to have a negative influence in women’s participation to PCP. Patriarchal social structure variable has contradicting findings which needs further studies. To promote women’s participation in PCP, policymakers should develop programs that take into account social structure variables, demographic variables, and family variables. By increasing women’s access to soft loans, the country will be well-positioned to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal number five before the year 2030. This can become possible when the government adopts transformative policies and appropriate actions to ensure that women have equitable access to public credit loans.