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Women Empowerment Through Agriculture in Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh

Mithun Kumar Ghosh
Dept. of Agricultural Extension & Rural Development, EBAUB, Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh

Shaikh Shamim Hasan
Dept. of Agril. Extn. & Rural Devt., BSMRAU, Gazipur, Bangladesh

Rezuana Fariha
Faculty of Agriculture, EBAUB, Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh

Md. Obaidul Bari
Faculty of Agriculture, EBAUB, Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh

Mst. Arina Parvin
Faculty of Agriculture, EBAUB, Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh

Abstract/ Executive Summary:

Women constitute almost half of the population of Bangladesh and are heavily involved in different agricultural activities though their contributions are neglected as mainstream labor force which hinders their expected development. Considering this fact, the present study was designed to determine the women empowerment through agriculture in Chapainawabganj, a northern district of the country. A pre-structured questionnaire was used to collect data through face-to-face interview from randomly selected sample size of 120 respondents from four selected villages namely Babudying, Hossaindying, Ramjibonpur and Thakurjoubon in Chapainawabganj district. The main findings indicated that about 83.3% of respondents were middle age and 60% of the respondents were illiterate with 56.7% belonged to small size family which consists of up to 4 members. Agriculture was the main occupation among the respondents. Most of the respondents were found without own land although they continue their livelihood mostly by crop production, livestock rearing, and day laboring. They take lease (23.3%) of cultivable land from others. The respondents had an average monthly family income of about 9351.38 BDT whereas 95% of the respondents were under medium income category. The respondents had no extension contact (0%), having high farming experience (50%) and no cosmopolitan behavior (0%). Most of the respondents (71.7%) were unable to make their own decision and 33.3% of the respondents had educational rights. The economic participation rate of the respondents was very high (100%), on the other hand they had no economic opportunities (0%). The attitude of the respondents towards women empowerment were mostly moderately favorable (70%). Most of the respondents of the study area were lied between low to medium empowerment (96.7%) with minimal high empowerment (3.30%). Study suggests that there is need a lot of work for women to improve their present condition. Government and Non-government organizations should take proper step to decrease gender discrimination as well as ensure women’s fundamental rights to make their life easy and make them more empowered.

Keywords: Agriculture, Chapainawabganj, Economic opportunity, Women empowerment.

Location: Chapainawabganj district, Bangladesh

Start Date: 00-12-2010

End Date: 00-01-2011

Program Area: Resource Development and Management

Non-commodity: Labour wages, Income generation, Livelihood

Objectives:

The following objectives have been established to guide the study: 1. To identify the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents; 2.To ascertain the level of women empowerment in the study area; 3. To determine the contribution of selected characteristics of the respondents towards women empowerment.

Methodology:

A. Research Design: The present study was descriptive survey research (A type of research that describes a population situation or phenomenon that is being studied). This study purposively selected 4 villages in Chapainawabganj district where economically active women in agriculture were available. The study used the simple random sampling technique to select 120 respondents (women) to collect data using a household survey. Face-to-face interview method was used to collect data from the respondents using a pre-structured questionnaire. Primary data were collected during the period of December 2020 to January 2021. By using the prepared interview schedule, primary information was collected regarding the respondent’s age, education, land ownership and land size, per day income as a laborer, membership in social organizations, production and household decision making, Constraints in agricultural participation, Attitude of the respondents etc. B. Variables and Their Measurement: The independent variables of the study which influenced the respondent’s opinion are age, educational status, family size, cultivable land, land ownership, monthly income, family member, number of children, farming experience, extension contact, and cosmopolitan behavior. Age of respondents is measured in terms of actual years on the basis of their statement. Educational status was measured by the number of years of schooling and it was further categorized as illiterate (0), primary (1-5), secondary (6-10), tertiary (>10) on the basis of the statement of the respondents. Family size referred to the total number of members of a family including the respondent herself, husband, children and another permanent dependent who lived together as family unit. C. Measurement of Women Empowerment: Women empowerment of the study area was measured using 4 indices. Index 1: Decision-making ability: The ability to select between two or more alternatives to reach the best outcome in the shortest time. The respondents were asked whether they can make their own decision or not with a close question having “Yes” and “No” options. The binary dependent variable assigned with value “1” for respondents said “Yes” and “0” for “No”. D. Measurement of Attitude of the Respondents towards Women Empowerment: Respondent’s attitude has been measured by constructing a 5– point Likert type scale. A 5-point scale consisting of 10 items (statements) on women empowerment through agriculture was constructed for this purpose. A respondent was asked to express her extent of agreement or disagreement by checking against any of the five attitudes and scoring was assigned as i) strongly agree (5), ii) agree (4), iii) no opinion (3) iv) disagree (2) and v) strongly disagree (1) and alternatively for negative statements. E. Data Analysis: Necessary coding of data was done after collecting the data and transferred these into computers for analysis. Different analyses like frequency count, means, range with percentage and categories were administered utilizing Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to show the contribution of demographic characteristics and income-generating activities of the respondents and then had made a different chart from that data using excel. Multiple regression analysis was used for exploring the influence of independent variables on dependent variables.

Source of Information: European Journal of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Vol-3, Issue-1, January 2021

Article Link (Online Journal): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24018/ejfood.2021.3.1.235

Funding Source:

Budget:

Total Budget (Tk.) :

Achievement/Findings:

Based on above analysis, it is found most of the respondents were middle age, illiterate, belonged to small size family. Agriculture is the main occupation among the respondents. Most of the respondents were found without own land although they continue their livelihood mostly by crop production, livestock rearing and day laboring. Most of them were deprived from educational rights, help from GO or NGO or all kind of agricultural training and they had no cosmopolitan behavior. They take lease of cultivable land from others. The economic participation rate of the respondents was very high, on the other hand they had no economic opportunities. About 95% of the respondents were under the medium income category with high farming experience. Most of them were unable to make their own decision. The main constraints in agricultural participation were their physical weakness that indicates lack of proper nutrition. The attitude of the participant’s towards women empowerment were moderately favorable. Finally, the research confirmed that the level of empowerment of the women of Chapainawabganj through agriculture was medium.

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