Gender, Social Capital, and Economic Empowerment: An Empirical Study of Women’s Cooperative Groups in Imo State, South East Nigeria

This study empirically examines the relationship between gender-differentiated social capital formation and economic empowerment outcomes among women participating in cooperative groups in Imo State, South East Nigeria. Women's cooperatives have gained policy attention as vehicles for collective economic action, savings mobilisation, and market access, yet the evidence on how social capital dimensions translate into empowerment outcomes in the South East Nigerian context is limited. Drawing on social capital theory and feminist economics, the study is anchored in a mixed-methods research design combining a structured survey of 310 cooperative members sampled across three local government areas with focused group discussions and cooperative records analysis. Data are analysed using ordinary least squares regression with robust standard errors and narrative analysis for the qualitative component. Key variables include bonding and bridging social capital indices, access to credit and markets, income diversity, and women's decision-making agency within households. The study expects to find that bridging social capital with external market networks and financial institutions significantly predicts economic empowerment outcomes, while bonding capital within cooperatives primarily improves information-sharing and collective risk buffering. It also analyses how membership duration and leadership participation moderate empowerment effects. Findings contribute empirical evidence to the debate on cooperative-based women's development policy in Nigeria and provide a framework for evaluating the design of women's economic empowerment programmes. Keywords: social capital, women's cooperatives, economic empowerment, Imo State, gender