KEYWORDS Poverty; access; infrastructure; rural and facilities

ABSRACT Women constitute about 46.6 percent of the total population and are responsible for 60-80 percent of the food produced in the country in addition to their traditional reproductive, household and community management roles. The rural women form a substantial proportion of the poor and most members of the female labour force live and work in rural areas. The study investigated rural women’s access to infrastructural facilities in rural areas in Osun State. Stratified random sampling technique was used to select 360 respondents in the study Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse the research questions and to test the hypotheses stated respectively. The chi-square analyses revealed that there were significant relationships between rural women’s access to infrastructural facilities and place of origin of the respondents (c² = 10.95, p < 0.05); Educational level (c² = 8.12, p <0.05); Religion (c² = 5.22; p < 0.05) and decision making (c2 = 7.72; p < 0.05). The results also showed that significant correlations existed between rural women’s activities and access to infrastructural facilities such as reliable public transportation (r = 0.20, p< 0.05); health care facilities (r = 0.15, p<0.05), electricity (r = 0.20 p<0.05) good water supply (r = 0.19, p<0.05). Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that there is need to increase the level of awareness of the rural populace to the significance of education. Also efforts should be made by individuals, philanthropists, governments at Local, State and Federal levels to make provisions for the improvement of access to infrastructural facilities by rural women.