The effects of climate change on the livelihood of rural women: a case study of Ilorin South, Nigeria

Abstract

The results from surveyed rural women in Ilorin South can be seen in Table 1. The age distribution across the sampled locations specifies that 21.48% of the population are between 21 and 30 years old, while 27.03% of the respondents are between 31 and 40 years old, and interviewees between 41 and 50 years old constitute 25.18% of the sampled population, these age groups (21-50 years old) are referred to as the productive population. The married (72.60%) divorced (4.07%) and the widowed (11.85%) among the productive population indicate that they have the responsibility to fend for their immediate and extended families, the women seemed highly involved in a form of livelihood as 58.89% were farmers and 34.44% were traders. During the interview 32.22% of the women said they had primary schooling, 58.15% indicated that they had no schooling at all, these respondents suggested that the meagre income they earn is because they had little or no schooling. Nevertheless, an assessment of the income generated by the women indicates that 34.90% of the sampled population earn 20,000 Naira monthly, whereas most of the respondents (51.90%) earn 10,000 Naira monthly, it is difficult to conclude that their education has affected their ability to earn a livelihood however, their assertions are valid.