The Nexus between Girl-Child Education and Women Economic Empowerment in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

This study was carried out to examine the link between girl-child education and women economic empowerment in Ikot Ekpene Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, in view of the observed impediments to girl-child education and by extension women low involvement in various sectors of the society. Specific objectives of the study were to examine how girl-child education influences women involvement in technical occupation, investigation of the link between girl-child education and women access to credit facilities and to examine the relationship between girl-child education and land ownership in the aforementioned area. The research questions were formulated to guide the study. The sampled size of Two Hundred and Sixty-four (264) persons (household heads) were obtained from the twenty-two communities sampled using random sampling technique. The instrument was face and content-validated and reliability coefficient of 0.884 was obtained using Cronbach Alpha. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design while field data were analysed using Means, Standard Deviation and chi-square (X2). The study revealed among other things that there is a positive association between girl-child education and women engagement in technical occupation, exposure to credit facilities and other related financial services and by extension women economic empowerment in the study area. The study recommends increase attention to gender equality and other factors hindering girl-child education in the study area.