Financial Management Systems and Practices of Ga Rural Women and their Influence on Family Welfare

Abstract

The study was conducted to find out the financial management systems and practices used by rural women in the Ga East District of the Greater Accra Region and their influence on the welfare of their families. The systematic random sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents from Danfa and Adoteiman for the study. A structured interview schedule was developed and used for data collection. The data were analysed using the Census and Survey Processing (CSPro 4.1) software and Predictive Analytic software (PSAW 18.1) programmes. The Statistical/Data Analysis (Stata) software programme was used for the regression analysis and the chi-square test, used to test the two null hypotheses. It was hypothesized that: HO 1 : There was no relationship between financial management by respondents and family welfare; HO 2 : There was no relationship between level of income of respondents and family welfare. Most of the respondents (82%) worked in the informal sector. Respondents received income from various sources with 88% receiving it from their occupations. The study revealed that a greater proportion of the total expenditure (53.9%) was on food and the least expenditure (2.8%) was on non-durable household goods. Respondents used a variety of financial management systems with the main one being the allowance system (36%) and the least used system being the family money management system used by (1%) of the respondents. The respondents also used various financial management practices such as mental planning of expenditure (89%), bulk purchases (33%) and credit purchases (36%). The chi-square test revealed there was a statistically significant relationship between management of finances and family welfare ( = 21.139 df = 1 p = 0.000) hence the first null hypothesis was rejected. It also revealed there was statistically no significant relationship between household income and family welfare ( = 3.593 df = 3 p = 0.300) therefore the second null hypothesis was accepted. To find out if any other extraneous variable influenced financial management practices, a logit regression analysis was done. The logit regression analysis revealed that financial management practices (e.g. unplanned spending) and certain demographic characteristics (e.g. respondents‟ age and household size) influenced respondents‟ family welfare both positively and negatively. For instance, women with higher education (e.g. Senior High School Qualification) have 0.12 higher probability of influencing family welfare positively. On the other hand household size relates negatively to family welfare. Therefore if a household size is less by one person, there is a probability of influencing family welfare positively by 0.4 holding all other regressor variables constant. The study revealed that women with high education were more satisfied with their welfare than those with basic or no formal education. It is therefore recommended that rural folk be sensitized by relevant stakeholders like the Ministry of Education to encourage more girls to be educated at least to the Senior High School level. Public health workers and relevant stake holders could intensify their education on family planning methods to help control family size, because the study showed that families with small household size had enhanced welfare than those with large household size. Department of Family and Consumer Sciences of the College of Agriculture and Consumer Sciences of the University of Ghana and other relevant stake holders could organize programmes to enlighten rural women on financial management practices to help reduce unnecessary household expenditures and save money.