Women's Studies
Saeed Gholamrezaei; Fatemeh Rahimi-Feyzabad; Fateme Movahedian
Abstract
Rural areas suffer from special problems that must be taken into account to realize the real dimension of the phenomenon. In the meantime, the issue of "rural women's employment" as one of the most important social and economic issues, has gained great importance today. A better understanding of rural ...
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Rural areas suffer from special problems that must be taken into account to realize the real dimension of the phenomenon. In the meantime, the issue of "rural women's employment" as one of the most important social and economic issues, has gained great importance today. A better understanding of rural women’s employment, and the limitation they face, is necessary for the targeting and design of policy interventions. The scarce economic and employment opportunities women can access in rural areas have been focused mostly on self-employment. Indeed, in many countries, rural women are often self-employed as own account workers (running small businesses with no employees). Women's self-employment can improve both women's intrahousehold bargaining position and their children's health, nutrition, and education outcomes. Rural women's self-employment and their success in creating jobs not only brings economic benefits but also social and cultural benefits. In such a situation, the cooperative sector is a suitable field for rural women's self-employment through strengthening the participation culture. Cooperatives with the participation of their members can play an important role in reducing poverty, creating self-employment, and increasing employment and entrepreneurship of rural women. But before making any effort to improve the employment status of rural women, it is necessary to investigate the rural women's intention to start cooperatives. Therefore, there is a need to clarify the most influential elements in shaping personal decisions to start a self-employed business in the form of cooperatives. The purpose of this study was to investigate factors affecting the behavioral intention of rural women members of Lorestan Province micro-credit funds towards self-employment in cooperatives using Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT). SCCT (Lent, Brown, & Hackett, 1994, 2000) is concerned with the interplay between a variety of personal, environmental, and behavioral variables that are assumed to give rise to people’s academic and career-related interests, choices, and performance outcomes. Among its personal variables, the theory emphasizes the central role of self-efficacy beliefs, outcome expectations, and goals (intention) in enabling people to assert personal control on behalf of their career efforts. However, SCCT is equally concerned with variables, such as environmental supports and barriers that may either promote or restrict the exercise of personal control. This study was designed and implemented through a survey method. The statistical population consisted of all rural women members of Lorestan Province Micro Credit Funds (N= 1087) who sampling of multistage quota proportional to the sample size through Krejcie and Morgan sampling table resulted in to select of 307 samples. Data collection in this study was conducted using a researcher-made questionnaire. After preparing the questionnaire and confirming its validity by the experts panel, its reliability was confirmed through a pilot study by calculating Cronbach's alpha values for the variables investigated. Structural equation modeling was used to determine factors influencing rural women's intention to self-employment in cooperatives through AMOS24. Pearson's correlation test was used to investigate the relationship between Social Cognitive Career Theory variables. Correlation results show that the self-employment intention variable had a positive and significant relationship with the variables of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, social support, and interests. Also, the self-employment intention variable has a negative and significant relationship with the social barriers variable. To investigate factors affecting the intention of rural women members of Lorestan province micro-credit funds towards self-employment, structural equation modeling was used using AMOS24 software. The results of structural equation modeling revealed that the interests variable has the highest direct impact on rural women's intention to self-employment in cooperatives and self-efficacy has the highest indirect influence on rural women's intention to self-employment in cooperatives. One of the most important development goals in most countries is job creation and poverty alleviation in rural areas, especially for rural women who are half of the rural population and since this deprived section of the society is a large part of the workforce needed in the agricultural sector, giving importance to their needs should be prioritized in development plans. For this purpose and to meet the financial and economic needs of women and create income, self-employment and increase their self-confidence, the formation of cooperatives can be effective. But a vital issue that is important in this regard is the factors that influence the decision and intention of rural women to start investing and working in cooperatives. Based on the results, the Social Cognitive Career Theory was a suitable theory to predict rural women's self-employment intention.
Women's Studies
atefe rahmani; mohsen badre; zahra mirhosseini
Abstract
Committing suicide is one of the oldest phenomena of human societies, and since it must be studied and understood within the framework of social psychology of each society and its subgroups, so far an important part of social studies of suicide has been focused on suicide in nomadic and rural areas. ...
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Committing suicide is one of the oldest phenomena of human societies, and since it must be studied and understood within the framework of social psychology of each society and its subgroups, so far an important part of social studies of suicide has been focused on suicide in nomadic and rural areas. It is for several years that the significant number of suicides and especially self-immolations of women in the Dishmuk region of Kohkiluyeh and Boye Rahmad provinces has been widely reflected in the media. This research sought to study and investigate suicide in this rural-nomadic area by using the Giorgi's phenomenological qualitative method and with the semi-structured interview tool.Based on Durkheim's research in the theory of suicide, where he explains social phenomena, he believes that in the context of social phenomena, there will be realities that a person is not able to solve with his own understanding and action. The phenomenon of self-immolation and suicide of women in Dishmuk is also a manifestation of the existing social reality of the region and the manifestation of women's inability to face the existing social realities. Negligence towards the importance of girls' literacy and preventing them from attending schools, marriage at young age and sometimes forced marriage, living with the extended family after marriage despite the adversities that the bride endures, are grounds and causes for this disability. In Hirschi's social control theory, it is also stated that the more a woman's emotional connection and dependence with her family and her attachment, the more her sense of responsibility and therefore the risk of her committing suicide decreases. Therefore, if family life is emotionally calm and peaceful, women will not go for such an action. Robert Merton's Social strain theory also explains that women in the Dishmuk area cannot cope with acceptable social realities as before, because there is a clear conflict between women's goals and demands from life and social realities, as a result, we witness a skewed behavior from them, which has appeared in Dishmuk in the form of a high rate of suicide according to its special cultural biosphere. In this research, the sample population is targeted and consists of people who have committed suicide unsuccessfully or one of their relatives has committed suicide leading to death. Based on the interviews conducted and understanding of the statements of the interviewees about the causes and contexts of suicide attempts in this region, this research mainly divides the causes of suicide of women in the Dishmuk area based on phenomenological investigations into five main categories: 1) lack of knowledge and life management skills; 2) lack of satisfaction with private life; 3) reaching a feeling of dead end and getting stuck in social life; and 4) the personality and superficiality of some religious beliefs were found.each of which is elaborated more in the findings section and documented with quotes from the interviewees. Finally, these categories have been compared with the theory of suicide, and the authors have provided suggestions to prevent suicide. In the end, the researchers made suggestions to improve the conditions of the region, including the establishment of girls' dormitories and boarding schools, the establishment of rural girls' high schools, the establishment of a counseling clinic consisting of local psychologists who are fully familiar with the language and culture of the people of the region, Also, based on the low level of development of the region, it is suggested that the development of education levels, skill training and the creation of employment opportunities for men and as a result help their economic independence should be put on the agenda. This can be a very efficient helper for the provision of housing and in solving the mentioned problems caused by harmful coexistence in the joint housing of the extended family. One of the proposals highlighted by the researchers is also the activation of local educated groups in each clan to mediate before marriage, after marriage and at the time of discords and problems because many couples are in unfavorable conditions and have unresolved issues that need help that this help in the context proposed by the researchers in this research is a solution in accordance with the cultural context of the region. Establishing a health center and neurology clinic and providing counseling services.
Rural Development
Naser Seifollahi; Golsum Akbari Arbatan
Abstract
The modern world has already taken the first step towards a fundamental technological reality, the digital economy. The modern global labor market is a complex multi-component and dynamic system that is constantly influenced by information technology and requires changes in the content of the work process, ...
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The modern world has already taken the first step towards a fundamental technological reality, the digital economy. The modern global labor market is a complex multi-component and dynamic system that is constantly influenced by information technology and requires changes in the content of the work process, its organization, the structure of employment and social and labor relations. The use of digital technologies creates new opportunities for businesses, including businesses located in rural areas, to enhance business growth and economic development, businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas often suffer from poor digital connectivity and digital exclusion, including lack of access Internet and low levels of digital literacy, they face problems. With this aim, this research has developed and validated a conceptual framework with thematic analysis method in a descriptive manner, through in-depth semi-structured interviews. The statistical population includes experts and experts and rural business owners, among whom 12 people were selected by purposeful sampling and participated in this study. The reliability of interview analysis is 79%. In order to ensure the validity of the research, it was tried to be a statistical sample of people who have the necessary knowledge and expertise in the context of the research, as well as to minimize the intervention of researchers in the research, and also to refer the coding result to a number of experts and obtain their final approval regarding the extraction framework. Findings of the study showed that, the challenges and opportunities of the digital economy in rural businesses, which include two comprehensive and central themes, 10 organizing themes and 52 basic themes. The opportunities facing the digital economy in rural businesses with 5 organizing themes and 21 basic concepts include things such as job value creation, convergence of technology with economic goals, global customer orientation, networking capability, business resilience, which can transform the capability into potential value in the implementation of the economy. They provide digital. It refers to the challenges and problems and factors involved in the implementation of digital technologies in rural businesses. It includes 5 organizing themes and 31 primary concepts, which are: digital process gaps, creating a black economy for rural businesses, adverse social effects, cultural aspects, technological risks that make the implementation of the digital economy more difficult. The results of the present study indicated that, The rapid growth of the digital economy, and especially the COVID-19 pandemic, has accelerated the spread of digital technology use, leading to an urgent need to align rural women's home businesses with government policies. Many rural women's home businesses have been digitally deprived due to the digital divide and the resulting limitations. They may face challenging business conditions to continue their careers. In addition, the female workforce in rural areas lacks the necessary flexibility in labor markets to adapt. This shows that rural women's home businesses should use technology and upgrade training programs to equip themselves with the right skill sets.. Therefore, during the rapid digital transformation, not only should immediate investment be considered in digital connectivity and networks for rural businesses that are underserved by digital services, but also digital skills and literacy should be increased and help absorb new digital innovations.
Women's Studies
Kayvan Shoja Chaghervand; Alireza Poursaeed; Maryam Omidi Najaf Abadi
Abstract
The empowerment has been known as controlling decision making about his or her life and ability for interventions in all their life challenges (Baig et al., 2018). Women empowerment can improve sustainability in development fields (Akhter & Cheng, 2020). Empowerment conception not only comprises ...
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The empowerment has been known as controlling decision making about his or her life and ability for interventions in all their life challenges (Baig et al., 2018). Women empowerment can improve sustainability in development fields (Akhter & Cheng, 2020). Empowerment conception not only comprises extrinsic control but it also is included the development of intrinsic capabilities (Abrar-ul-Haq, Jali, & Islam, 2018). It has been reported that the development of the empowerment in women is a pivotal actors for improving productivity and food security in rural areas (Sharaunga, Mudhara, & Bogale, 2016).Food security is the measure of the availability of food and individuals' ability to access it. According to the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security, food security is defined as meaning that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life. Female-headed households who live in rural areas are faced with serious challenges in their life, because they should manage their life and supply their life costs. In Iran, some supporting institutions support female-headed households but their pensions are not sufficient to manage their life. It was recently reported that 32% of Iranian families are living in food insecurity (Pakravan-Charvadeh et al., 2020).Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of job empowerment on food security of rural female-headed households under supervision of the Welfare Organization. Statistical population of the current study included 495 women based on the data collected from Statistical Center of Iran and 216 women were selected with the help of Cochran’s formula. Tehran province was divided into ten rural districts and each district was considered as a classification. A self-designed questionnaire consisting from 11 variables were used for job empowerment of women comprising grouping work and communication skills (n= 7 items), creativity and solving problem (n= 6 items), commitment and responsibility (n= 6 items), information and specific knowledge (n= 5 items) and technical skills and operational work (n= 5 items). A five-point Likert scale was considered for each variable ranging from 1 (very low) to 5 (very high). A standard questionnaire comprising accessibility (n= 6 items), availability (n= 6 items), utilization (n= 7 items) and stability (n= 4 items) was used for food security construct. A six-point Likert scale was considered for each variable ranging from 0 (any) to 5 (very high). The data were also collected for age, education, job, family size, and annual income. To investigate the effects of constructs of job empowerment on food security, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used. The results showed that the age mean of the women-headed households in rural areas was 48.28 with standard deviation of 11.55 years. Mean and standard deviation for constructs were as follows; grouping work and communication skills (2.77 ± 0.88), creativity and solving problem (3.01 ± 0.90), commitment and responsibility (3.26 ± 1.02), information and specific knowledge (2.94 ± 0.94), technical skills and operational work (3.22 ± 1.00), access (2.23 ± 0.84), availability (2.42 ± 0.80), utilization (2.69 ± 1.10) and stability (2.57 ± 0.74). The results for model-fitting showed that job empowerment and food security had a good fit for the data with fit indices (χ2/df=1.85, CFI=0.92; NFI= 0.96; RMSEA=0.032). The results show that indices are appropriate and the model has a good fit. The results showed that job empowerment could determine 57.50% of food security variance. In conclusion, this study showed that factors of grouping work and communication skills, creativity and solving problem, commitment and responsibility and information and specific knowledge had significant effects on job empowerment of female-headed households in rural areas of Iran country. With regards to the effects of the factors on empowerment, policy makers must consider policies for improving job empowerment. To improve food security and job empowerment in rural region, we suggest establishing centers by supporting institutions for education of skills and also identification of creative women for improving their abilities. We also suggest education of new information and knowledge by media and other organizations for improving job empowerment. We also suggest education of technical skills for prevention of injures and improving abilities in female-headed households in rural areas. In sum, it is recommended to consider the job empowerment for improving food security for improving food security of rural female-headed households under supervision of the Welfare Organization.
Rural Development
Mahtab Valizadeh; Farahnaz Rostami; Nematollah Shiri; Mojgan Khoshmaram
Abstract
Context: The low participation rate of women in economic activities has caused the entrepreneurship rate of women to be lower than that of men. Without the economic participation of women in starting SMEs, it will be challenging for developing countries to achieve the 2030 sustainable development goals ...
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Context: The low participation rate of women in economic activities has caused the entrepreneurship rate of women to be lower than that of men. Without the economic participation of women in starting SMEs, it will be challenging for developing countries to achieve the 2030 sustainable development goals and reach their full economic and social potential. Recent studies show that the gender difference in the rate of economic participation and entrepreneurship is not only due to the low success rate of female entrepreneurs, but the main reason is that few women are able to start a business. Therefore, try to promote entrepreneurial businesses among rural women is very important. The starting point for launching a business is opportunity recognition, and the process of identifying entrepreneurial opportunities is different for women than for men. Therefore, it is very important to carry out researches with the aim of identifying factors that influence the recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities among women. Considering that in many developing countries, women have less access to financial resources than men, so this is one of the reasons for the low level of economic participation of women. In this regard, the project of microcredit funds for financial support of women in order to start entrepreneurial businesses has been implemented in different countries, including Iran.Object: Now, after many years have passed since the establishment of these funds in Kermanshah province with the aim of financing the rural women of this region to start entrepreneurial businesses, the present study was conducted with the main aim of analyzing factors influencing the recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities among rural women members of microcredit funds in Kermanshah.Research Method: This paper in terms of the paradigm, purpose and method of data collection is quantitative research, applied research and field research study. The study population in this study were all women members of microcredit funds in Kermanshah (N = 626) that according to the table of Bartlett et al., 201 of them using stratified random sampling method with proportional assignment Were selected as research samples. The main data collection tool was a questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed using content validity and convergent validity and combined reliability and Cronbach's alpha. SPSS and Smart PLS software were used to analyze the collected data.Findings: Findings of the study showed that entrepreneurship education, social capital and entrepreneurial skills were the effective factors on entrepreneurial opportunities among rural women members of microcredit funds in Kermanshah. According the results About the trainings provided by the microcredit fund, most of the respondents (34.3%) stated that they participated in these trainings once or twice. Also, 35.3% of them stated that they have participated in the training provided by the agricultural extension between 1 and 2 times. In relation to receiving informal entrepreneurial training, as the results of the distribution of respondents in terms of the index of standard deviation distance from the mean show, the majority of respondents (91%) were in the lower and weak middle class. The average opportunity recognition ability of the respondents is 3.41 with a standard deviation of 0.60. Among the dimensions of the ability to recognize the opportunity, creating innovative solutions from the opportunity had a higher average (3.51) than other dimensions. Also, the findings of the study indicated that the average entrepreneurial skills of rural women members of the fund are 3.15 with a standard deviation of 0.63. As the findings, more than half of the respondents (56.7 percent) were in the lower middle class in terms of entrepreneurial skills. Overall the results of the study showed that rural women members of microcredit funds in Kermanshah are at an average level in terms of the ability to recognize entrepreneurial opportunities. Also findings of the study showed that entrepreneurship education, social capital and entrepreneurial skills were the effective factors on entrepreneurial opportunities among rural women members of microcredit funds in Kermanshah.Conclusion: The results of the present study indicated that, in addition to the direct effect, entrepreneurial education has an indirect effect through social capital on the recognition of entrepreneurial opportunities by rural women who are members of microcredit funds in Kermanshah. The results of the present study indicated that entrepreneurial skills have a positive and significant effect on recognizing entrepreneurial opportunities among rural women members of microcredit funds in Kermanshah. Therefore, it can be concluded that by improving entrepreneurial skills, the ability to recognize opportunities among rural women members of microcredit funds can be improved. In fact, entrepreneurial skills such as planning and setting work goals, designing and developing a business plan, financial and accounting issues, analyzing problems and providing solutions help rural women to better address the gaps in the society and in fact to identify entrepreneurial opportunities.
Hassan Afrakhteh; somayeh azizi
Abstract
In recent years, development has been emphasized from another perspective using a knowledge-based approach. This kind of view requires the creation of growth centers and technology parks in different areas. The main purpose of establishing technology parks is to promote science and technology in the ...
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In recent years, development has been emphasized from another perspective using a knowledge-based approach. This kind of view requires the creation of growth centers and technology parks in different areas. The main purpose of establishing technology parks is to promote science and technology in the region, and Sistan and Baluchestan Science and Technology Park is no exception to this rule. With the establishment of the Science and Technology Park, the province intends to increase the quality of its industrial and production sectors with the help of its human resources. The present study, with the aim of the role of science and technology parks in creating jobs for rural women, has tried to examine the importance and role of Sistan and Baluchestan Science and Technology Park in this regard. In order to collect data, snowball interviews with experts and technicians have been used. The population of this research includes officials, managers and experts in the field of science and technology of Sistan and Baluchestan province who are working in the science and technology park and the growth unit of this park. In this regard, 20 officials in the relevant field were interviewed. The results show the positive impact of technology on employment, education, turning ideas into business, self-esteem and self-efficacy of rural women. In addition to the positive effects, a number of individual, knowledge-skills, socio-cultural, managerial, legal-legal barriers to the employment of rural women were identified. Active participation of women, reform of community attitudes and development of government support were suggested.
Masoumeh Esmaeily
Abstract
In the process of accepting the crisis situation, people can experience a more pleasant feeling and play a more prominent role in creating family, work and social settings. This research was conducted with the aim of examining the process of accepting the crisis situation in rural areas with an emphasis ...
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In the process of accepting the crisis situation, people can experience a more pleasant feeling and play a more prominent role in creating family, work and social settings. This research was conducted with the aim of examining the process of accepting the crisis situation in rural areas with an emphasis on the gender impact of women. The statistical population of the study included rural women who remained in their village after the earthquake in Kermanshah and attempted to cope with the post-earthquake conditions. From this community, samples were selected purposefully to saturation (12 rural women). In this research, the phenomenological method was used to analyze the data. In this way, with the help of non-structured interviews, we collected information related to sample individuals. The process of accepting the crisis situation in rural women is represented in six phases following main themes: facing the threat (before the earthquake), facing the crisis (after the earthquake), trying to reconstruct the life, the stage of settling in conditions, the link with the down and life-threatening and power-up stages. This survey illustrates the process women took in the countryside to accept the crisis situation. The process requires a special effort by women from the beginning to the end according to their feminine characteristics.
Tahereh Sadeghloo; Shadi Khoub; Shirin Sahebi
Abstract
In today's world, the acquisition of a socially affiliated personality and getting out of the circle of personal activities is essential for development. Therefore, the participation of women as an important part of the developmental force is significant and gender inequality, as one of the most important ...
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In today's world, the acquisition of a socially affiliated personality and getting out of the circle of personal activities is essential for development. Therefore, the participation of women as an important part of the developmental force is significant and gender inequality, as one of the most important issues and problems of society, can threaten the social order, development, and even the political stability of society and disrupt the development process. Rural women, as the influential elements of rural areas, are largely exposed to this discrimination for various reasons such as ignorance of their rights. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of gender discrimination on the level of participation of rural women. The research methodology is a descriptive-analytical study carried out in the form of library and field survey. A sample survey filled questionnaires in 116 households was conducted in 10 villages of Rajkan and Golamkan in Chenaran City. The results of this study showed that, based on t test, the greatest effect of gender discrimination on reducing the economic participation rate of rural women is 3.53 as a mean score. Subsequently, the beta value reflects the relative importance of gender discrimination in women's participation. Therefore, it can be said that since rural women participate in the field of rural economy and work in the fields of livestock, agriculture, and horticulture along with men, they are the most discriminating in the field of economics; because, despite the large participation in this field, there is little interest in the possibilities and benefits of the economy.
Hossein Daneshmehr; Kamal Khaleghpanah; Soheyla Zandi Sarabsoure
Abstract
The present study seeks to address rural women's narratives of gender inequality in field education. This study, while interpreting their subordinate positions, explores women's narratives of the status of education-gender relations and the factors that make up the field of education and gender inequality ...
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The present study seeks to address rural women's narratives of gender inequality in field education. This study, while interpreting their subordinate positions, explores women's narratives of the status of education-gender relations and the factors that make up the field of education and gender inequality in education. To this end, we use Pierre Bourdieu's theoretical apparatus as a guide to the formulation of concepts. This research has used the tradition of qualitative method and the thematic narrative analysis method to discover and extract categories in which participatory observation tools and in-depth interviews were used to collect the required data. The field of study is rural areas of Dehgolan with qualitative and purposeful sampling logic in addition to space sampling (large, medium and small villages). It conducted in-depth interviews with 32 women aged 15-35 years in 6 rural settlements. The narrative data were coded and formatted into 78 initial themes, 36 sub-themes, 8 main themes, and one final theme. The main themes of the narratives are: gender socialization, deepening mechanisms of social inequality, material poverty, cultural poverty, inaccessibility of educational centers, early marriage of girls, restriction of women from entering the public sphere and reproduction. The final issue is education as a field of production of gender inequality in rural areas, which has shaped the narrative of the multiple features of women.
Hossein Shabanali Fami; Fatemeh Jafari; Moslem Savari; Mohammad Shokati Amghani; Mahsa Motaghed
Abstract
This research was conducted with the general purpose of investigating the effective constructs on improving the participation of rural women in promoting household food security. The statistical population of the study included all rural women in Tarom Olia (N = 10796) out of which 398 people were selected ...
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This research was conducted with the general purpose of investigating the effective constructs on improving the participation of rural women in promoting household food security. The statistical population of the study included all rural women in Tarom Olia (N = 10796) out of which 398 people were selected based on Kerjeci and Morgan sampling table and via stratified random sampling method for interviewing as the respondents. The main data gathering instrument of this study was a questionnaire. The validity of the instrument was confirmed by a panel of food safety experts and faculty members of the Department of Agricultural Management and Development in University of Tehran and its reliability was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Data analysis was performed in two sections of descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSSwin18 and Lisrel8.54 software. The results of the study indicated the prevalence of poor food security status, and low participation of rural women in promoting food security. The results of correlation analysis showed that economic, social and psychological constructs have a positive and significant relationship with the improvement of women's participation in promoting food security. In addition, the results of structural equation modeling showed that the (economic, social and psychological) constructs with a coefficient of 81% (γ = 0.99, t = 7.92) had a positive and significant effect on improving the participation of rural women in promoting Household food security.
Somayeh Kazemian; Fahimeh Fadakar Davarani; Maryam Seifi
Abstract
The psychological empowerment of women is a process in which women are empowered cognitively and behaviorally to organize their personal, family and social life. This research was conducted to compare psychological empowerment indices in rural and urban women. The population of this study is consisted ...
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The psychological empowerment of women is a process in which women are empowered cognitively and behaviorally to organize their personal, family and social life. This research was conducted to compare psychological empowerment indices in rural and urban women. The population of this study is consisted of women residing in Saral-e-Zahab and neighboring villages those who remained in their city and village after the earthquake in Kermanshah and adapted to the conditions of their area of residence. A cluster random sampling method was used to select samples. Of the total number of women living in Saral-e-Zahab city, five regions were selected. Hence, 154 women of the city and 154 women from the villages located in Zahab plain were selected as the sample and completed the psychological empowerment questionnaire. The researcher-made questionnaire was used to measure psychological empowerment indices in the crisis. This questionnaire was developed through qualitative data through thematic content. In this study, the total validity of the questionnaire in the sample group was 0.886. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to analyze the data and results of Tukey's post hoc test were reported for a more detailed examination. The findings of this study showed that among in-person components, there was a variable cognitive circuit that indicated scores for rural women lower than those for urban women. Also, there is no significant difference in the interpersonal components of psychological empowerment between urban and rural women. In general, the independent variable, which is the same place of life, has a great influence on the cognitive circuit, but does not affect the interpersonal components.
Atena Vatankhah Noghani; Maryam Ghasemi
Abstract
Migration is one of the most prevalent and effective social phenomena that may cause some changes in population structure, consequently, lead to socioeconomic changes especially in relation to gender. Thus, the migration is naturally a gender process. The present research seeks to analyze the consequences ...
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Migration is one of the most prevalent and effective social phenomena that may cause some changes in population structure, consequently, lead to socioeconomic changes especially in relation to gender. Thus, the migration is naturally a gender process. The present research seeks to analyze the consequences of husband’s migration on socioeconomic status of left-behind women in rural areas. The research method is descriptive-analytical and sample size is 289 women in 22 sample villages of Mashhad County those who their husbands migrated to work. In this study, the subject women were identified by snowball method and participated in completing the questionnaire. The effects of men’s immigration on rural women were evaluated in term of economic and social dimensions with 15 positive and 15 negative effects separately. From the women perspective, the results of paired Sample t-test showed that men’s migration mainly had positive rather than negative effects; as in the social term, the average positive effects of migration of men is 3.26 and significantly more than the average 1.99 of negative effects; and in the economic dimension, the average 2.54 of positive effects were more than the average 2.23 of negative effects. In total, the average value 2.88 of positive effects of men migration were more than the average 2.09 of negative effects. This is justified by the predominant type of men’s migration, which is mostly daily, across the Mashhad County. The results of variance analysis also showed that the average of negative effects of households with daily migration of husband were 2.06 that this figure was increased to 2.18 in short-term migration and to 2.53 in long-term one. Therefore, if the migration of men from rural areas is daily, it will have a positive effect on the economic and social status of left-behind women in rural areas.
Saadi Mohammadi; Jaleh Mohammad Sharifi
Abstract
The present paper seeks to identify the obstacles and problems that women's rural entrepreneurs faced in the Oraman region of Sarvaba County. This is considered as one of the important hubs of rural tourism in the country. The aim of the research is to remove the barriers to create an appropriate entrepreneurship ...
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The present paper seeks to identify the obstacles and problems that women's rural entrepreneurs faced in the Oraman region of Sarvaba County. This is considered as one of the important hubs of rural tourism in the country. The aim of the research is to remove the barriers to create an appropriate entrepreneurship environment for rural women to be employed in the field of tourism. Data gathering in the theoretical part was done by using documentary resources and in the practical section with survey method and based on distribution of questionnaire among 97 employed rural women in the tourism sector of the villages of Oraman section and 50 knowledgeable and specialized developers in rural issues who were selected by Snowy bullet method. Data were analyzed by inferential statistics (factor analysis and path analysis). The results have indicated that in total, there are five factors including; weakness in planning, executive performance of public institutions and financial resources constraints, weaknesses in marketing and infrastructure service failures, social and cultural barriers of rural environment, individual weaknesses and educational constraints, and technical and practical barriers as the main obstacles with which rural women entrepreneurs are faced in the rural tourism sector. Among them, the weakness of planning, the executive function of state institutions and financial constraints have the greatest impact on the inclination of employed rural women in the area of tourism to entrepreneurial.
Rahman Bagheri; daruish rezapour; esfandiar ghafarinasab
Abstract
Suicide is one of the social injuries in various societies, which is done in a variety of ways; self-immolation is one of the most painful of these practices. The aim of this paper was to the lived experience of women survivors of self-immolation in Kohnani district of Kohdasht city, which during the ...
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Suicide is one of the social injuries in various societies, which is done in a variety of ways; self-immolation is one of the most painful of these practices. The aim of this paper was to the lived experience of women survivors of self-immolation in Kohnani district of Kohdasht city, which during the years 2004 to 2017 committed self-immolation but survived the death. In this qualitative research, researchers have used the method of interpretive phenomenology, purposive sampling and deep interviewing technique with 10 women to collect information. All interviews were recorded and immediately imprinted on paper and analyzed with an interpretive approach.Research findings indicate that the seven main categories of "Cultural Traditionalism", "Economic Challenges", "Lack of Relational skills", "Violence of husbands against women", "Unpleasant divorce", "self-expression and deliverance", and "easy access to the materials of self-immolation"; are contexts and conditions which affect the attempting self-immolation for women. The results of this study indicate the interaction of different cultural-social, economic and psychological dimensions in the process of self-immolation in rural women. Based on the findings, this study offered some suggestions.
Rural Development
Masoud Yazdanpanah; Kazhal Khedri; Masoumeh Forouzani; Masoud Baradaran
Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing women’s participation in social, economic, and political activities in rural areas of Likak city. Target population of this study is active rural women of 15 to 64 years old in Likak city. Based on Morgan table, 300 women were ...
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The aim of this study was to investigate the factors influencing women’s participation in social, economic, and political activities in rural areas of Likak city. Target population of this study is active rural women of 15 to 64 years old in Likak city. Based on Morgan table, 300 women were selected as sample using a random sampling method. We have used a questionnaire as data collection instrument which its validity was confirmed by a group of experts and its reliability was evaluated by Cronbach alpha coefficients (0.73-0.94). The results of this study have indicated the high mean of women’s participation in social, economic and political activities in the rural society. Moreover, the results have also revealed that there is negative correlation between economic, political and social participations and a number of key variables such as gender stereotype, farmer identity and housewife identity. The results of structural equation modeling analysis have showed that self-efficacy and housewife identity have positive effect on participation intention. In addition, gender stereotype has negative effect on social, economic and political participations. The model explained 85% of the variance in economical participation, 77% of that in social participation, and 69% in political participation. Therefore, it is recommended to give value to the activities of housewives in society and media and to create material and moral rights for these activities. Holding the meeting of housewives with active and successful women can increase women's self-efficacy.
Women's Studies
Karim Naderi Mahdy; Hajar Vahdat Moadab
Abstract
This study is an applied research using qualitative research method. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of social capital components on the empowerment of rural women engaged in home businesses. The study area of this research is Razan County. The statistical population is the 460 women ...
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This study is an applied research using qualitative research method. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of social capital components on the empowerment of rural women engaged in home businesses. The study area of this research is Razan County. The statistical population is the 460 women engaged in home businesses. We have selected 266 women through stratified sampling as the sample group. In addition to a deep documentary survey, the necessary data and information were collected from the field using a structured questionnaire. The validity of the study instrument was confirmed by a panel of relevant experts and its reliability was determined by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The reliability in all parts of the questionnaire was estimated 0.85. We used Lisrel and SPSS20 software to analyze the data collected. The results of cluster analysis indicated that 63.25% were poor in terms of capacity and 21 percent were relatively strong, while only 14.84 percent of the sample was quite formidable. Based on the results of diagnostic analysis, it can be said that the most important factors distinguishing these groups are as follows: ensuring community participation, social trust and social cohesion.
Geography
Maryam Ghasemi; Lida Alizadeh; Elham Ghandehari
Abstract
Empowerment is the linking point between development and women which is closely connected to continuous improvement, competency enhancement, behavioral changes, and development of women’s performance. It is considered as a part of establishing the concept of development. As the focal point in the ...
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Empowerment is the linking point between development and women which is closely connected to continuous improvement, competency enhancement, behavioral changes, and development of women’s performance. It is considered as a part of establishing the concept of development. As the focal point in the area of empowerment lies within women’s ability to control their future (psychological empowerment), the present study seeks to identify and prioritize various approaches for psychological empowerment of women in rural areas. The descriptive-analytical method was used in this applied-developmental study. Data have been collected using documents and field studies. The data were then analyzed using SWOT-QSPM by strategic management tools. In this study, 142 women from the rural areas of Torghabeh and Binaloud County voluntarily participated to fill out the questionnaires. Given the final scores of IFE=1.79 and EFE=2.60 in SWOT matrix, defensive strategies (minimum-minimum) were identified as optimal for psychological empowerment of women in rural areas. Among the ten strategies outlined using the QAPM (Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix), the most important strategy was “the identification of restrictive and facilitative factors for psychological empowerment of women in rural areas. The strategy attempts to mitigate the following obstacles”, with a score of 1.176; the second and third strategies with scores of 0.256 and 0.219 were “holding various educational workshops in line with psychological empowerment of women in rural areas”, and “encouraging women in rural areas to form cooperatives as well as various NGOs for women and supporting them”, respectively.
Women's Studies
Saadi Mohammadi; Marzieh Talati; Arkan Mohammadi
Abstract
Nowadays, in order to build a jolly environment in the villages and achieve the subjective well-being of rural women who are isolated for social and economic reasons, given the great poverty and unemployment and the necessity to overcome these issues, the use of rural areas potentials for realization ...
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Nowadays, in order to build a jolly environment in the villages and achieve the subjective well-being of rural women who are isolated for social and economic reasons, given the great poverty and unemployment and the necessity to overcome these issues, the use of rural areas potentials for realization of economic growth and the presence of women in them are emphasized. Rural tourism due to its nature and related job opportunities income is welcomed and accepted by women. In this applied research, which is conducted by descriptive-analytical method, the effects of women's presence in the rural tourism sector of the Awraman region were examined on their mental well-being. Accordingly, a questionnaire was distributed among 90 rural women in tourism destination villages, selected by targeted sampling, and analysis of the obtained data was done using one-sample inferential T, Xi-two, Friedman and Qi-two consonants. It was found that spread of tourism and the presence of women in related activities at a significant level of 0.001 and an average of 3.47, has increased and improved the mental well-being of rural women. Among the indicators, the cognitive indices of subjective well-being with an average of 3.55, and among the studied variables, the satisfaction of the rural environment and dependence on it, the decrease of feeling of poverty and life satisfaction, respectively, have the highest degree of improvement of the situation and the effectiveness of women's presence in tourism activities. The findings also showed that there is a significant, positive and direct relationship between the level of satisfaction with development and income dependence on tourism activities and the level of vitality of rural women.
Women's Studies
Esmail Karami Dehkordi; Roghayeh Babaee
Abstract
Rural women play an important role in supporting their rural households' livelihoods and can significantly contribute to the sustainable natural resources management programmes. The current research aims to investigate rural women's livelihood activities and their related needs for enhancing their knowledge ...
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Rural women play an important role in supporting their rural households' livelihoods and can significantly contribute to the sustainable natural resources management programmes. The current research aims to investigate rural women's livelihood activities and their related needs for enhancing their knowledge and social capacities. The study was conducted using a case study through participatory rapid appraisal techniques in the Ghezel Tape Aligholi Village located in the Zanjan Province of Iran. Rural women contributed to their households' livelihoods through various livelihood strategies, comprising non-agricultural activities including carpet weaving; agricultural activities dependent on rangelands, specially collecting naturally medicinal and edible plants; and agricultural activities with low dependency on rangelands, particularly product harvest and local processing. Assessing rural women' needs showed that they mostly needed updated knowledge and skills regarding proper harvest, processing and packaging of horticultural and dairy products, natural resources conservation methods, new agricultural and non-agricultural activities, and higher literacy. The necessity to improve rural women's environmental attitude, particularly about rural waste management was also recognised to be an important need. Moreover, they need to strengthen their social capacities, particularly in regard to influencing agricultural markets, relations and trust in rural communities and with external actors, and strengthening rural women organisations. These needs imply the necessity of developing agricultural extension and natural resources management programmes for human and social capacity building of rural women.
Women's Studies
Zahra Farazizade; Mahbobe Babaei
Abstract
The theme of leisure, spent by different groups of people, and its possible consequences, suggest new ways in human life. Leisure with all cultural, social, political and economic aspects, is important free time spent in different time periods and spaces by all groups of society in many ways. Understanding ...
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The theme of leisure, spent by different groups of people, and its possible consequences, suggest new ways in human life. Leisure with all cultural, social, political and economic aspects, is important free time spent in different time periods and spaces by all groups of society in many ways. Understanding how to spend leisure time among different people can be a basis for the analysis of social trends and changes. Women's Leisure in rural community has less been considered. In the present study, the situation of rural women's leisure in Hasan Abad in the Delfan was studied. In this study, leisure time among different generations and with respect to having agricultural land and water was assessed using qualitative method. Techniques such as participant observation, interviews and focus group discussions with twenty-two of the rural women for data collection and thematic analysis were used for data analysis. Based on the results, the change of seasons, possession of farmland, water, livestock and poultry determine the amount of leisure time in rural women. The types of leisure activities and the amount of time allocated to them in different generations of rural women in comparison to the past have changed. As young rural women have little interest in carrying out agricultural activities because of changing values compared to other generations, there is more leisure time for them. Also, the type of leisure activities as a result of new developments, have changed. Middle-aged women in productive activities, market and non-market have the greatest participation, and consequently, their leisure activities are mainly focused on refreshment. Older women are involved in productive activities, market and non-market, and their leisure activities are focused on facilitation life in the village. They, in their leisure time, produce skin rugs, cotton and yarn.
Rural Development
Rohollah Rezaei; Sepideh Norozi; Gholamreza Mojaradi; Leila Safa
Abstract
Today, Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) is an important indicator of development; however, due to the greater vulnerability, HRQOL level of women is lower than men, especially in rural regions. This problem has doubled the necessity to investigate and identify the factors affecting HRQOL. Given ...
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Today, Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQOL) is an important indicator of development; however, due to the greater vulnerability, HRQOL level of women is lower than men, especially in rural regions. This problem has doubled the necessity to investigate and identify the factors affecting HRQOL. Given the importance of the issue, the purpose of this descriptive- correlative research was to study the effect of health-promoting lifestyle components on rural women’s HRQOL. The statistical population of the research consisted of all women in rural regions of West Islam Abad Township whose age ranged from 15 to 64 years old (N= 13835). According to the Bartlett et al. Table (2001), a sample size of 250 was selected using multiple stage sampling technique. The standard questionnaire was used to collect data. The results indicated that women’s HRQOL had a positive and significant relationship with age, size of family, number of children and years of married life and a negative and significant relationship with literacy level and time spent on daily sport activities. Also, the results showed that mean score of women’ s HRQOL differed significantly in terms of marital status, situation of head of household, having insurance and periodic medical examinations. Finally, based on findings, six components of health-promoting lifestyle including nutrition management, social support, health responsibility, exercise, stress management and life appreciation explained 57 percent of variances of rural women’s HRQOL.
Women's Studies
Ali shams; Halimeh Razmi; Mohammad- Hossein Shahir
Abstract
Production of family poultry is one of the activities which women in the villages participate and several factors effect on their participation in these activities. The purpose of this descriptive- correlational study was to investigate factors related to the participation level of ...
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Production of family poultry is one of the activities which women in the villages participate and several factors effect on their participation in these activities. The purpose of this descriptive- correlational study was to investigate factors related to the participation level of rural women in family poultry activities. The Statistical population consisted all rural households in Maragheh County (N=22564) which 224 of them were selected based on Cochran sampling formula and using multi-stage randomized sampling method. The research tool was a researcher-constructed questionnaire whose validity verified by a panel of experts in the related field and to check its reliability. A pretest conducted and Cronbach's Alpha coefficient were higher than 0.7 for different parts of the questionnaire. The results showed that all family members are involved in family poultry activities, but the participation of women was higher than other family members. On average, women participated 77.35 percent in activities and incubator related activity and nesting activities had lower and higher rate of participation, respectively. The participation level of women had a negative meaningful correlation with their age, education, husband's education, households’ numbers, the size of poultry folk and their knowledge but a positive meaningful correlation with their attitudes and women's share of income gaining from poultry and products selling.
Rural Development
Ali Shams; Nazilla Nabizadeh; Hosein Shabanali Fami
Abstract
Any economic development planning of rural regions needs an initial investigation of rural women's role in the production system, hence the purpose of this descriptive- survey study was to investigate rural women's role in animal husbandry activities. The statistical population consisted of all rural ...
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Any economic development planning of rural regions needs an initial investigation of rural women's role in the production system, hence the purpose of this descriptive- survey study was to investigate rural women's role in animal husbandry activities. The statistical population consisted of all rural families (N=6571) in Charuymaq county among which 135 were selected through a multistage randomised sampling method based on Cochran's sampling formula. The research tool was a researcher-constructed questionnaire the validity of which was verified by a panel of experts in the related field and to check its reliability, a Cronbach's Alpha coefficient was computed which was higher than 0.7 for composite constructs. The results showed that majority of women (60.7%) had a neutral attitude toward animal husbandry activities. Hard nature of animal activities was the most important barrier of women's participation. Preparing households food requirements (self-consumption) and feeling responsibile toward household were the most intrinsic and extrinsic motives of women regarding their participation, respectively. The majority of women had a low level of mass media information usage and TV was the first source of their information gathering. Women had the highest participation in milking and processing and the least in grazing the animals.
Women's Studies
Rohollah Rezaei; Shima Zareei
Abstract
Regarding the undeniable role of women in the process of rural development on the one hand and their inappropriate situation in terms of the most indices of rural development on the other hands, rural women’s empowerment is essential. Meanwhile, many researchers and scholars believe that social ...
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Regarding the undeniable role of women in the process of rural development on the one hand and their inappropriate situation in terms of the most indices of rural development on the other hands, rural women’s empowerment is essential. Meanwhile, many researchers and scholars believe that social capital and its components play a key role. Thus, the main purpose of this descriptive- correlative research was to study of the viewpoints of rural women on effect of social capital components on their empowerment in Hassan- Khan village in Ghorveh Township.The statistical population of the research consisted of all women in Hassan- Khan village ranged from 15 to 64 years old (N= 213). According to the Krejcie and Morgan table, a sample size of 165 was selected using random sampling technique. The questionnaire were used to collect data. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. The construct validity and the composite reliability of the research instrument were tested by estimating the measurement model and they were satisfied after making necessary corrections. The results showed that the main hypotheses of the research have verified and three components of social capital including social cohesion, participation and trust had a positive and significant effect on dependent variable. The components totally explained about 43 percent of variances of women's empowerment in Hassan- Khan village. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that increasing social capital of rural women directly results in their empowerment.
Entrepreneurship
Ahmad Yaghoubi Farani; Atieh Soleymani
Abstract
Today, women play an important role in rural area and their capacities in entrepreneurship and employment can enhance rural economics development. Accordingly, the present study seeks to identify the personal haracteristics of rural women and investigate the effect of this characteristics on entrepreneurial ...
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Today, women play an important role in rural area and their capacities in entrepreneurship and employment can enhance rural economics development. Accordingly, the present study seeks to identify the personal haracteristics of rural women and investigate the effect of this characteristics on entrepreneurial success in Hamedan province. This study in terms of the aim, is an applied research and, in terms of research, is descriptive– correlative that has been conducted through a surveying methodology by using questionnaire as a main tool. The statistical population of this study consists of 117 rural women entrepreneurs in Hamedan province. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient which was calculated for personal characteristics and levels of rural women entrepreneurship success were 0/80 and 0/81. Level of rural women success was measured by 10 variables like income growth, increasing production level, using new production tools and methods, using new and various methods in distribution and sale and job opportunities creation. Based on the results of research, among the personal characteristics, commitment and responsibility (M= 4.76), hard work (M= 4.74) and achievement (M= 4.69) were the most important entrepreneurial characteristics of rural women. Also, the results showed a significant positive relationship between personal characteristics of rural women and level of their entrepreneurial success.
