Agricultural Research Management Information System

Home
Research Summary
Search
About Us
- ARMIS
- Brochure
Contact Us
Report
User Request
Data Input
Help
- Operation Manual
  - PDF
  - Video
- Program Area & Commodity
We have reached 37600 number of research entries at this moment.

- Logout

Research Detail

Home
Research
Detail

Women’s Participation in Economic Activities: a Comparative Study for Members and Non-members of the Micro-credit Organizations

M. Hoque
Lecturer (Agricultural Science)
Teachers’ Training College (Co-Ed), Mymensingh

M.A. Sarker
Associate Professor
Dept. of Agricultural Extension Education, Bangladesh Agricultural University

M.T. Islam
AEO
Upazila Agriculture Office, Mithapukur, Rangpur

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

The study was aimed to examine the present status of rural women’s participation in various economic activities in Bangladesh. The sample of the study consisted of 92 farm women (among them 50% were members of micro-credit NGOs and 50% were non-members) from Dhulgari village of Pirgonj upazila under Rangpur district. Necessary data for the study were collected using interview schedule by personal interviewing of the respondent women. Result showed that among agricultural activities rural women’s participation was relatively higher in various post harvest activities and livestock management activities compared to other agricultural activities. On the other side, their participation was almost nil in the case of aquaculture activities. The result of the regression analysis explored that personal annual income of the women has the highest influence on their extent of participation in EAs.

Keywords: Participation, Women, Economic activities, Micro-credit organizations

Location: Dhulgari village of Pirgonj upazila under Rangpur district

Start Date: 00-10-2010

End Date: 00-11-2010

Program Area: Socio-economic and Policy

Non-commodity: Credit

Objectives:

i) To assess the present status of participation of the rural women in different economic activities (here in after EAs).

ii) To find out the factors those are associated with increasing women’s participation in EAs.

Methodology:

The data for the study was collected from 92 farm women of Dhulgari village of Pirgonj upazila under Rangpur district from October 10 to November 07, 2010. This village was purposively selected for the study since agriculture is the main source of livelihood for majority of the people and the village is highly developed in agriculture considering both production and diversity of crops. The respondent farm women were selected as proportionately as stated by (DAE, 1999) from all categories of farm families like landless, marginal, small, medium and large farmers based on their land holdings. Among the respondent farm women all the women from landless and marginal families and 10 women from small farm families were the members of micro-credit organizations like Grameen Bank (GB), Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and Thengamara Mohila Sabuj Sangha (TMSS). To assess the status of participation in Economic Activities (EAs) of the women, 33 activities (covering crop, livestock, aquaculture and other income generating activities) were included in the interview schedule. The extent of participation in EAs by a farm woman was put into operation o involvement in all of selected 33 EAs. A 4-point rating scale was used to measure the extent of participation in EAs by the women. They were asked to indicate the frequency of their participation is frequently, occasionally, seldom or not at all. Weights were assigned to each of the responses like 3, 2, 1 and 0 respectively. A respondent’s score could range from 0 to 99, where 0 indicated ‘never’ participation and 99 indicated the ‘highest’ participation in EAs. Frequency counts of responses were also recorded to compute the Participation Index (PI) of a woman for each of the EA. Participation Index of EAs was computed by using the following formula: PI = (N1× 3) + (N × 2) + (N3×1) + (N4× 0), Where, PI = Participation Index of EAs; N1 = Number of women who participate in the EA frequently; N2 = Number of women who participate in the EA occasionally; N3 = Number of women who participate in the EA seldom and N4 = Number of women who participate in the EA not at all The collected data were tabulated and further analyzed with the software SPSS 12.0 version.

Source of Information: Bangladesh Journal of Extension Education, Volume 22, No. 1&2, 2010:57-64, ISSN 1011-3916

Article Link (Online Journal):

Funding Source:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Despite of poor socio-economic status, besides family activities the rural women of Rangpur district are actively participate in various agricultural activities. The study revealed that most of the women participate in various post-harvest activities like threshing, winnowing, rice boiling, grain and straw drying and storing activities compared to pre-harvest activities. However, the participation of women in livestock activities is relatively higher than their participation in crop related activities, while their participation was very few in aquaculture activities. The findings of the study also reported that women of the study area also participate in various non-farm activities to improve their income. However it is evident from the study that the participation of NGO members in various EAs is relatively higher compared to non-members. Thus it is very essential to take immediate steps to involve the rural women energetically in the mainstream development through providing them various training like home gardening, cattle and poultry management and other income generating activities similar to various micro-credit NGOs.

Knowledge Management: Journal