This archive report was first published on 10 December 2019.
According to a report by the Sacco Societies Regulatory Authority (Sasra), released in 2019, women workers are increasingly joining savings and credit societies at a younger age than their male counterparts.
The report, which analyzed the membership of 174 licensed deposit-taking Saccos (DT-Saccos) in Kenya as of December 2018, found that women made up 31.45 percent of total Sacco membership among those aged 36-50, compared to 28.74 percent for men.
Similarly, among those aged 25-35, women accounted for 25.45 percent of Sacco membership, slightly higher than the concentration of male members at 22.94 percent.
Overall, women accounted for 61.45 percent of total female membership among those aged below 50, while men accounted for 60.74 percent of total male membership in the same age group.
The report also debunked the myth that Saccos are primarily for older people, with the youth aged 18-35 making up 30.86 percent of Sacco members.
Interestingly, the study found that parents are increasingly enrolling their children in Saccos, with 192,274 children under the age of 18 being members as of December 2018.
DT-Saccos drew membership from various sectors, including farming, teaching, government, community, and the private sector.
Among these sectors, farmer-based DT-Saccos accounted for 47.81 percent of individual DT-Sacco members, while teacher-based Saccos accounted for 16.32 percent.
