“Evaluation of women’s access to building credits from banks in Nigeria”

Women are responsible for the fastest economic growth in the world through their commercial activities. Despite this notable act, women in developing countries are most times sidelined in accessing financial incentives from banks. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the criteria used by banks and the problems encountered by women in accessing building credits in Nigeria. The study used a cross-sectional survey research design that utilized an electronic questionnaire instrument. The data obtained were analyzed using frequencies, percentages, 100% stacked bars, mean score, ANOVA, and categorical regression (CAT-REG) tests. The result revealed that the primary criteria to access building credits across different banks in Nigeria were the source of income/ level of income, credit status/review, and the value of the collateral. When women can access building credits from banks, it can lead to improved living conditions for women, improved work-life, and benefits for their children. However, the lack of collateral, lack of financial literacy, lack of formal employment, and lack of right to ownership of property are limiting factors in women lending from banks. Furthermore, gender discrimination, lack of financial literacy, and low educational background could influence women’s access to building credits from banks. To facilitate the provision of loans to women from banks, it is necessary to improve government policy, economic reforms and banking legislation for women’s access to loans.


INTRODUCTION
Several studies have tried to show the correlation between credits and housing ownership.The Demirgüç-Kunt et al. (2018) report on the Global Findex showed that the main reason for borrowing among adults in high-income and developing-income economies was for buying land or a home.Constantinescu and Lastauskas (2018) showed the relationship between housing and credits.They noted that individuals would have to incur more debt with higher housing prices and the need for an equivalent collateral value to a lending institution.Other data on the relationship between credit and access to housing, including the prices, can be found in Gerlach and Peng (2005), Fitzpatrick and McQuinn (2007), Brissimis and Vlassopoulos (2009), Berlinghieri (2010), and Amundsen and Jansen (2013).All these studies emphasize the need for credit in loans or mortgages to aid access to housing properties.Most households in the global south, such as Nigeria, struggle to access housing finance for construction and maintenance works mainly because they are primarily low-middle income earners (Rahman & Ley, 2020).This is not the case in high-income economies, where 27% of adults reported having an outstanding housing loan.It contrasts with the less than 10% recorded in developing economies (Demirgüç-Kunt et al., 2018).This showed a need to increase access to credits to intensify the efforts of the public and private sector in solving the housing stock deficiency in Nigeria.
In Nigeria, housing deficit increases homelessness (Jiboye, 2011;Afolabi et al., 2017).The Centre for Affordable Housing Finance Africa (2018) estimates Nigeria's housing deficit to be between 17 to 20 million in a population of over 200 million.The high volume of housing deficit is attributed to several factors that have plagued the Nigerian housing sector.Previous studies have pointed to issues concerning the growing population (Olotuah, 2010), rural-urban migration (Akinmoladun & Oluwoye, 2007), inadequate government policies (Ibem et al., 2011), high cost of land (UN- HABITAT, 2006), and inadequate financing of the housing sector (Ibem et al., 2011;Afolabi et al., 2017;Tunji-Olayeni et al., 2017).In these housing deficit challenges, several policies have been adopted to address homelessness's threat, but all to no avail.The present capacity from the public sector is the production of 100,000 housing units per annum.This means it would take about 200 years to achieve 20 million housing units (Afolabi et al., 2019).Hence, private individuals, while not depending on the government, approach commercial banks and lending institutions to obtain banking credits.However, this is where the problem arises when women cannot participate in home building as much as their male counterparts due to access to building credit limitations.
According to Klapper and Parker (2010), women have been seen to be less likely to get financial benefits from banks.To think that most women participate in business projects to meet the needs of their families.For instance, women act as homebuilders and sometimes as breadwinners, since they provide their families with the means of survival and replace the shortfalls in the living wages for males.Besides, research has shown that women spend most of their income and savings on their children (Fletschner & Kenney, 2011).Then why should they not be able to access building credit to build their own houses for themselves and their families?The World Bank report by Larossi et al. (2011) showed that having access to financial credits allows women to procure shelter for their families and helps reduce homelessness.However, this is not the case as many women in Sub-Saharan Africa are restricted from owning assets such as houses and lands and tend to hold more non-income-producing assets (Kagotho, 2015;Oladokun et al., 2018).Data showed that the percentage of house ownership among women was 4.82% and 7.06% in the North-East and South-East of Nigeria (National Population Commission, NPC and ICF International, 2014).Agarwal et al. (2021) highlighted the importance of measuring gender inequality in asset ownership concepts such as land, houses, and other income-producing assets.Reputation such as economic empowerment of women, performance evaluation of the sustainable development goal (SDG) 5, and progressive laws that empower women (Agarwal et al., 2021).
Further studies have shown that when women have access to assets such as land and houses, it has a positive impact on food security, the child's nutrition, access to education, the household welfare, the woman's well-being, and expands the woman's capabilities in the household decision-making (World Bank, 2001;Batana, 2013;Deere et al., 2013;Oladokun et al., 2018).Morsy (2020) argued that knowing the critical contribution of women in socio-economic development, one begins to wonder why banks still deny women opportunities and services.Thus, this study focuses on the problem women face when trying to access building credits from banks in Nigeria, with a view of the increasing availability of housing funds and homeownership among women.Therefore, the study's objectives are to: • identify the criteria to access building credits across different banks in Nigeria; • evaluate the benefits accrued when women can access building credits from banks; • examine the factors preventing women from accessing building credits from banks in Nigeria; and • propose solutions that will enhance women's accessibility to building credits in Nigeria.

LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES DEVELOPMENT
Previous research has focused on residential redlining or mortgage lending discrimination due to institutional racism (Hillier, 2003 2008) underscored that even though women had better credit history when trying to access loans, they still paid higher interest rates than men.Marlow and Patton (2005) also attributed the loan discrimination to the low personal savings among women, which can be accredited to the low earning power among women compared to men. Figure 1 showed the average monthly income of men and women in Nigeria.The Enhancing Financial Innovation and Access, EFInA (2019) report (see Figure 1) showed that women in Nigeria earned lower than men.This is why it is important to understand the main criteria banks use in disbursing building credit to its customers in Nigeria.Therefore, there is a need to test the hypothesis: H 01 : There is no significant difference in the criteria for access to building credits across different banks in Nigeria.

And the alternate hypothesis:
H 1 : There is a significant difference in the criteria for access to building credits across various banks in Nigeria.
Another insight is that most financial systems are male-dominated (Aterido et al., 2013).For instance, the Annual Reports of Nigerian Banks for 2019 showed that female representation in management positions of most banks in Nigeria was between 20 to 30%, as against the Central Bank of Nigeria's directive of at least 40% (Guobadia, 2021).Furthermore, some banks have stereotyped female entrepreneurs as less skilled and inefficient than their male counterparts (de Anderes et al., 2020).Among workers in banks, Muravye et al. (2009) and Agier and Szafarz (2012) have reported cultural and gender bias among loan officers towards women-owned SMEs.Consequently, the loan discrimination among women-owned SMEs continues to lower the quality of their output (Scalera & Zazzaro, 2001).On the other hand, Ongena and Popov (2016) recorded that some women-led businesses have already zeroed their minds into believing that their bank credit request would not be approved mainly due to gender bias.This makes some women believe that they are less financially literate or less risk-tolerant, which is why they had their loan applications rejected (Meyll & Pauls, 2019).  2 showed some financial indices on the financial inclusion among women in Nigeria.An evaluation of Figure 2 showed that many women who owned accounts with banks were mainly under-banked.This means that most women were not using the financial services in terms of savings and borrowing, even though they had a bank account.For instance, in 2017, only 2% of female account holders borrowed to start, operate or expand their farms or businesses.To resolve many socio-economic challenges among women and children, it would be helpful to increase bank patronage among women.As Karakara and Osabuohien (2019) pointed out, bank patronage, an indicator of financial inclusion, is necessary for Source: EFInA (2019).reducing poverty, especially in vulnerable groups.Therefore, it is imperative to understand the factors militating against women trying to access building credits using the following hypothesis:

Figure 1. Average monthly income of men and women
H 02 : There is no factor militating against women trying to access building credits from banks in Nigeria.

And the alternate hypothesis:
H 2 : There are factors militating against women trying to access building credits from banks in Nigeria.

RESEARCH METHOD
The process and techniques used for achieving the stated objectives of this study are addressed in this section.Two phases of this study were carried out.
The first phase involved a broad review of related and relevant literature comprising published articles, journals, and papers collected online.In the second phase, questions are formulated based on information from the research literature analysis.The analysis was targeted at identifying the criteria women need to access building credit across different banks, benefit accrued when women can access building credits, and factors that militate against women trying to access building credits.
The questionnaire was developed to help proffer solutions that will enhance women's accessibility to building credits from a financial institution.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
In this section, the result of the dataset obtained via the research survey was presented.The impact was also discussed on the implication of the findings from this study. http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/bbs.16(4).2021.05

Background information
The study evaluated the characteristics of the respondents used in this survey.Table 1 presented the summary of the background information of the banks surveyed.Bank employees from each bank were selected, and their characteristics were presented in Table 1.Table 1 showі that there were 28 (54.9%)male bank employees and 23 (45.1%) female bank employees that participated in this study.These bank employees worked in different types of banks in Nigeria.

Criteria to access building credits across different banks in Nigeria
The study examined the criteria for access to building credits across different banks in Nigeria. Figure 3 was presented using 100 percent stacked bars.Figure 3 shows that over 80% of loan officers emphasized the need for women to show their source of income/level of income in the loan application forms for accessing building credits.Figure 3 showed that over 70% of the loan officers also took more extraordinary cognizance for women's credit status/review and the value of their collateral as the criteria to access building credit across different banks in Nigeria.The result revealed that the primary criteria for accessing building credits at various banks in Nigeria were the source of income/level of income, credit status/review, and value of the collateral.This finding is supported by Adeyele (2018) who pointed out that one of the main criteria for accessing loans by SMEs is a consideration for an excellent financial ratio of the SMEs.Whereas, Adeyele (2018) noted that most banks shy away from collecting collateral securities, since most business owners rent their facilities.There are other mechanisms that the bank uses as criteria to grant loans to individuals and business owners.One may not blame the banks due to the global 2007 financial crisis, which made many banks take suitable precautions in credit processing (Adeleye, 2018).Based on the findings of this study, it is shown that banks that focus on the source of income for women to be able to grant them bank credits might limit access to such financial services.This assertion is emphasized in Anyanwu (1992), where it was noted that the size of a woman's business, the level of income, and demand for collateral act as a limitation to women's access to commercial bank credits.Whereas, some customary rules and laws often limit women from submitting collateral to banks due to the restricted control over these assets, such as land or livestock.Sanusi (2012) and Oladokun et al. ( 2018) have reported that even though a woman or her family formally owns the land, the woman is less likely than her male counterpart to have their names on the deeds or title of the land.

The study further tested the first hypothesis, the null hypothesis:
H 01 : There is no significant difference in the criteria for access to building credits across different banks in Nigeria,

and the alternate hypothesis:
H 1 : There is a significant difference in the criteria for access to building credits across various banks in Nigeria.
The study used the analysis of variance (ANOVA) test to examine the significant difference in the criteria for access to building credits.The type of banking institutions where the bankers worked was used as the factor in the analysis.Table 2 showed the ANOVA test on the criteria to access building credits across different banks.Table 2 showed that gender (F = 5.834; Sig.value = 0.005) was statistically significant in the criteria for access to building credits across different banks in Nigeria.Corsi and De Angelis (2016) showed that loan size from microfinance banks is influenced by the personal characteristics of a loan applicant.In terms of bank credit, Wellalage and Locke (2017) noted that when the credit market considers gender in their information required for access to credit, it leads to gender-based statistical discrimination.The information opaqueness and lack of information relating to the borrower's creditworthiness can result in the financial institution applying a group stereotype to the borrower's loan process (Wellalage & Locke, 2017).

Benefits accrued when women can access building credits from banks
The study showed benefits accrued when women can access building credits from banks in Nigeria. Figure 4 presents the 100 percent stacked bars on the benefits accrued to women when they can access building credits from banks.In Figure 4, more than 60% of the respondents perceive that   can reinforce women's economic decision-making capacity and improve their skills, knowledge, and support networks and enhances their status in the society.Apart from these positive attributes, it can lead to increased well-being and socio-political empowerment for women.Beyond the woman, this study showed that women's access to building credits could benefit their children.This is supported by Eze et al. (2009) who stated that income in the hands of women could influence the valued nutrition of children than when men control the income.

Factors militating against women trying to access building credits from banks
The study examined factors militating against women trying to access building credits from banks in Nigeria.Table 3 presents the ranking of factors militating against women attempting to access building credits from banks using the mean score test.The study showed that the main factors militating against women trying to access building credits from banks in Nigeria were lack of collateral, lack of financial literacy, lack of formal employment, and lack of right to ownership of property.This correlates with findings by the Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI, 2017).The AFI (2017) report showed that the main constraints facing women's financial inclusion were financial literacy (75%), collateral requirements (66%), and the socio-cultural environment (63%).
In the study carried out by Anyanwu (1992), the lack of suitable/adequate security was one of the main impediments to women's access to credit.For instance, only 1% of land in Africa is owned by women, while women constitute only 15% of its land-use rights (Margolis et al., 2013).Also, Sanusi (2012) noted that women generally lack knowledge of financial options.Most women perceive that the monies that should have been spent doing feasibility studies or getting the information needed to access bank credit would have been spent on other family responsibilities.Previous studies emphasize this assumption, making women more likely to be financially excluded than their male counterparts (Swamy, 2014;Gosh & Vinod, 2017).This can be attributed to the low financial literacy among women.The second hypothesis was tested using categorical regression (CAT-REG) test on the null hypothesis: H 02 : There is no factor militating against women trying to access building credits from banks in Nigeria.

And the alternate hypothesis:
H 2 : There are factors militating against women attempting to access building credits from banks in Nigeria.
The gender of the respondents was used as the factor in the CAT-REG test.Table 4 presents the CAT-REG test on the factors militating against women trying to access building credits from banks.The model summary extracted in Table 4 showed that the R 2 at 60.9% (F = 2.112; Asymp.Sig.= 0.000) represents the proportion of the variance for the dependent variable (gender) that is explained by the independent variables (factors militating against women's access to building credit) in the regression model.This showed a statistically significant dif-ference in some of these factors militating against women trying to access building credits from banks in Nigeria.Anyanwu (1992) opined that due to the cultural norms in Nigeria, most women perceive that bank credits are for men.Besides, there is the notion that men are the breadwinners and women should depend on them.Eze (2006) opined that some quarters in Nigeria believe that investment in women is termed a "waste" because men perceive that a woman's place is in the kitchen and childbearing.Gender discrimination towards women affects their level of education, which becomes a barrier in accessing other benefits in society, such as building credits.
The National Bureau of Statistics, NBS (2017) has shown that women between the ages of 15-24 years had a literacy rate of 59.3% compared to 70.9% of their male counterparts.Furthermore, data showed the decline in the completion rate of females as they progress through primary, junior, and senior secondary schools, which were at 64.8%, 38.9%, and 28.7%, respectively (NBS, 2017).

Measures to enhance women's access to building credits in Nigeria
This section measured the solutions that could enhance women's access to building credits in Nigeria.The data obtained in this section was measured using the mean score test.Table 5 presented the measures that will enhance women's accessibility to building credits in Nigeria.In This means that the significant measures that will enhance women's accessibility to building credits from banks are improved government policy, better economic reforms, and better banking legislation for women's access to loans.This is supported by Jack and Roland (2016), who noted that the government should promote anti-gender discrimination economic policies to protect women.The procedures should be biased-free and engender that women can adequately compete in terms of access to credit facilities.Jack and Roland (2016) noted a need for reforms in the banking sector to promote inclusion, accessibility, and flexible credit facility assistance with adequate supervision and monitoring.For instance, in 1990, the United Bank of Africa (UBA) introduced a particular credit scheme for women.Although other initiatives encourage women to access loans from microfinance banks for their businesses, little is known about access to building credits.Another way in which the government can intervene is through education and information (Anyanwu, 1992).Education is a significant way to increase financial literacy among women and reduce the gender disparity in access to fundamental rights such as owning a house.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
While there are numerous studies focused on gender bias and loan discrimination among women-owned SMEs, there is little research on women's access to building credits from banks.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the criteria used by banks and the problems encountered by women in accessing building credits in Nigeria.This study used a questionnaire survey approach towards bank loan officers to elicit information on four main findings.First, the study showed that over 80% of loan officers emphasized the need for women to show their source of income/level of income in the loan application forms for accessing building credits.Other information crucial to women's access to building credits from banks includes women's credit status/review and the value of their collateral.By using this information, banks can measure the willingness to repay the borrowed money.However, many women are financially excluded because only 27% of women in Nigeria have bank accounts.It would be difficult to track these bank criteria from women that need to access building credits.On an inferential level, this study showed that bank loan officers also focus on the personal characteristics of a loan applicant.
The stereotype leads to gender-based statistical discrimination among women in Nigeria in trying to access building credits.Secondly, this study showed that the banking system and management need to be aware of the several benefits accrued when women can access building credits from banks in Nigeria.Most importantly, women can benefit from building credit because it has the capacity to improve their living conditions, their work-life, and benefit their children.With this beneficial evidence, why is it difficult for women to access building credits from banks in Nigeria?The third objective showed that most women in Nigeria lack any form of collateral they can supply to banks.In addition, most women in Nigeria lack financial literacy, formal employment, and right to ownership of property.For instance, only 1% of land in Africa is owned by women, while women constitute only 15% of its land-use rights.The study showed that other discriminatory activities based on gender and low educational trainings among women have led to unequal access to credit facilities for businesses and other economic empowerment opportunities.These evidence is not encouraging; instead, there is a need for drastic policies that would help bridge the gender gap in the financial inclusion within the country.The fourth objective in this study directed bank stakeholders and policy makers to solutions that could enhance women's access to building credits in Nigeria.
The solutions are hinged on three main things such as policies, reforms and legislations.Furthermore, the following recommendations, which is drawn from the findings of this study, are put forward for the government, banks, non-governmental organizations (NGO), individuals and the construction industry.
a) The study has shown the underlying consideration of gender when assessing who banks give building credits to.From now on, the bank forms for obtaining building credit should not contain personal characteristics such as gender of the individual trying to receive the building credit.Since the study has emphasized that the criteria needed are the financial capacity and creditworthiness of the person to offset the building credit when given.This would tackle the underlying gender discrimination that may exist in the loan application.
b) There is a need for proper legislation to protect and support women trying to get building credits.This study showed that a nation benefits when women can access building credits.This substantial verdict means that the government should intervene in the discrimination against women with adequate policies and laws to eliminate the bias against women.c) There is a need for cultural changes towards women's ownership of properties.This can be achieved through proper sensitization in schools, religious organizations, and grassroots, mainly through local heads in different communities.
d) The study noted that there is a need for better financial reforms in banks.International rating bodies can emphasize the need for gender equality rating systems in banking operations, such as access to loans, building credits, and grants.This can be used as performance indicators in appraising the sustainability and gender inclusiveness of banks.
e) Lastly, banks need to develop unique building credit products to meet the housing needs of women.The credit processing should not encourage inhibiting requests such as the provision of collateral.Instead, an adequate repayment plan should be introduced.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Criteria to access building credits across different banks 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% Less financial stress on men Can lead to the growth of the construction industry Improved living conditions of women The banking sector also employs many workers within the industry.For instance, First Bank of Nigeria holds 9,016 employees, and United Bank of Africa Plc has about 13,237 employees as of 2019.This study focused on the branches of the banking institutions in Lagos State, Nigeria.
The financial sector in Nigeria is controlled and monitored by the Central Bank of Nigeria.In Nigeria, there are 22 commercial banks, 902 microfinance banks, and 34 mortgage banks.Each of these banks has several branches in different states across the country.

Table 1 .
Summary of background information

Table 2 .
ANOVA test on the criteria for access to building credits across different banks Figure 4. Benefits accrued when women can access building credits from banks

Table 3 .
Lusardi and Mitchell (2014)ardi and Mitchell (2014)showed that women are less financially knowledgeable.Referring back to Figure1, one can see a decline in the financial inclusion among women.As of 2017, out of the 27% wom-Factors militating against women trying to access building credits from banks

Table 4 .
CAT-REG test on the factors militating against women trying to access building credits from banks Note: Dependent variable: Gender.

Table 5 .
Measures that will enhance women's access to building credits