Analyzing the Barriers and Limitations of Rural Women Employment (Case Study: Tuyserkan County)

Journal of Research and Rural Planning

مقاله 1، دوره 6، شماره 1 - شماره پیاپی 17، شهریور 2017، صفحه 35-48   

نوع مقاله: علمی

شناسه دیجیتال (DOI): 10.22067/jrrp.v5i4.47639

نویسندگان

Heshmatollah Sa’adi^{* 1}؛ Ahmad Yaghoubi Farani¹؛ Leila Zoleikhaei Sayyar²؛ Fatemeh Ghahremani³

¹Bu-Ali Sina University

²Bu Ali Sina University

³Bu-Alli Sina University

چکیده

Extended abstract
1. INTRODUCTION
Employment is critical for poverty reduction and for enhancing women’s status, especially in rural community. The notion of work and self-employment for women is complex and different factors affect women employment. Based on research results and experiences in developing countries, in rural areas, women as a significant part of the population, face some social, cultural, economic and institutional limitation for starting or promoting a business. In this research, through a survey in a rural society, most of the barriers and limitations of rural women employment were distinguished and analyzed.
2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Rural employment is a key to economic and social development in many countries like Iran. That’s why many researchers tried to find solutions and strategies for progression of rural employment especially for women, and also the barriers and obstacles of rural women self-employment. Based on researches, many different barriers can prevent the process of starting and developing a business. Some studies showed that socio-economic barrier like family opposition or lack of family supports, lack of women self-confidence and some cultural values and belief against women self-employment prevent the progression of women business in rural areas. Also, generally rural women have less access to fund and credit and this factor can limit the rate of self-employment and entrepreneurship by rural women. Lack of empowerment and skill is another issue that decreases the level of business starting by rural women. Personal characteristic and competence is also needed for staring a new business. Some researchers showed that lack of some competencies like self-confidence, ambiguity tolerance, risk taking and spirit of independence can prevent the level of self-employment intention. Based on researches, different barriers could have different influences on different societies and that’s why, for drawing a conceptual map for barriers of women employment and entrepreneurship, quantitative survey is needed. In this survey research, the role of different cultural, social, personal and institutional barriers and limitations of rural women employment were assessed through a factor analysis.
3. METHODOLOGY
The current applied research is a quantitative and non-experimental study in terms of variables controlling. The main purpose of the study was to distinguish and analyze the most important barriers and limitations of rural women’s employment. To do that, 150 rural women in Tuyserkan, Hamedan province, were selected randomly as research sample. Based on review of theoretical literature, a structured questionnaire was made and used as a main tool to collect data. The validity of the questionnaire was assessed by panel of experts and the Reliability was measured by "Cronbach α" test (α=0.81). In order to analyze data, both SPSS18 and LISREL8.8 software were used. The SPSS was used for describing data and factor analysis and the LISREL was used in order to modelling structural equations. The results of structural equations showed good fitness of the model used for analyzing barriers of rural women employment. (RMSEA=0.063, AGFI=0.8, GFI=0.93(.
4. DISCUSSION
Findings showed that rural women in this research face a group of limitations and barriers in starting and managing their business. Using exploratory factor analysis revealed that four main obstacles are very important in the process of starting and promoting business by rural women in their point of view. The most important factors were socio-cultural barriers like family opposition, lack of women self-confidence and some cultural values and belief against women self-employment (with 22.03% of barriers’ variances). This factor with some other barriers such as economic-environmental, personality and training-supporting barriers explained 62.30% of the variances of employment barriers.
5. CONCLUSION:
According to the research results, it was found that rural women in this survey face different limitation and barriers in the process of self-employment which can influence on this process differently. Based on the research, it is recommended to pay attention to some cultural programs through media or social activities in order to reform some social and cultural barriers such as traditional mindset towards women's empowerment and their participation. It is also essential to provide learning opportunities for both men and women in rural areas in order to believe women and daughter abilities and empowerments in economic and social activities. The research results can help policymakers and managers to develop suitable supportive plans in different stages of starting and managing rural business by women.

کلیدواژه‌ها

Rural women؛ employment؛ employment barriers؛ Tuyserkan County

مراجع

1. Alidoust, S., & Lashgarara, F. (1392/2013). Barriers to rural women entrepreneurship development (Case study: Garmsar County). Journal of Agricultural Extension and Education Research, 6(1), 7-16. [In Persian]

2. Alizadeh, M. (1389/2010). The role of women employment in development. Journal of Women and Culture, 2(5), 49-59. [In Persian]

3. Amini, A. M., & Ahmadi Shapourabadi, M. A. (1386/2007). Rural women's employment in two townships of Esfahan province. Journal of Women's Studies, 5(1), 65-91. [In Persian]

4. Babai Zakliki, M. (1385/2006). Challenges of women for promotion to managerial positions in public organizations. Journal of Humanities Instructor, 46, 82-45. [In Persian]

5. Barker, L. & Allen, S. H. (1976). The Interdependence of work and Marriage, in Dependence and Exploitation in Work and Marriage. Newyork: Longmans.

6. Dadvarkhany, P. (1385/2006). Rural development and women's employment challenges. Journal of Physical Geography Research, 38(55), 171-188. [In Persian]

7. Davis, A. (2011). Rural and urban women entrepreneurs: A comparison of service needs and delivery methods priorities. Journal of Business Science and Applied Management, 6(2), 1-16.

8. Eftekhari, A. R., Taherkhani, M., & Sojasi Ghidari, H. (1388/2009). Dimensions and factors affecting the development of agricultural entrepreneurship in rural Iran: A case study of Khodabandeh County. Journal of Village and Development, 12(3), 41-72. [In Persian]

9. Ehsani Moghadam, N. (1389/2010). A review of women's employment. Magazine of Work and Community, 125- 124, 44-53. [In Persian]

10. Eliasson, K. & Westlund, H. (2013) attributes influencing self-employment propensity in urban and rural Sweden. The Annals of Regional Science, 50 (2), 479-514.

11. Ezzati, S. (1387/2008). Social and cultural barriers to women's employment: Ilam women and employment. Journal of Ilam Culture, 20 &21, 73-83. [In Persian]

12. Farhangi, A., and M. Esfidani. (2004). Iranian women in management careers. Women’s Research, 1(1), 109-117.

13. Farzi, Z., & Ranjbar, M. (1385/2006). Women in Iran's laws and regulations. Tehran: Ranjbar and Farzi Publications [In Persian]

14. Ghanbari, Y., Hajjariyan, A., Ansari, R., & Kiyani, F. (1391/2012). Encouraging and discouraging factors for rural women participation in agricultural activities, case study: Fereidoonshahr County. Journal of Research and Rural Planning, 2, 71-87. [In Persian]

15. Hemmati Winneh, H., Abedi Sarveatani, A., Abdullah Zadeh, Q. H., & Mahbobi, M. R. (1391/2012). Domestic employment and business barriers for women: A study of rural women in Kermanshah city. National Conference on entrepreneurship and business management knowledge. Toroudshomal Research-Industrial Company, Babolsar, Iran. [In Persian]

16. Jelodar Fallah, R., Farajollah Hosseini, S. J., Hosseini, S. M., & Mirdamadi, S. M. (1386/2007). Factors contributing to the success of rural women’s entrepreneurship in north of Iran. Journal of Village and Development, 10(4), 87-115. [In Persian]

17. Karimi, Z. (2004). The role of government support in promoting entrepreneurship among women: A case study of Mazandaran women cooperatives. Seminar on women entrepreneurs, the challenges ahead, the Center for Women's Entrepreneurship, Tehran, Iran. [In Persian]

18. Kelly, S. & Price, H. (2009). Vocational education: A clean slate for disengaged students. Social Science Research, 38, 810–825.

19. Lahsayy Zadeh, A. (1375/1996). The role of women in the rural economy. Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities of Shiraz University, 11(1& 2), 43-65. [In Persian]

20. Mahmoudiyan, H., & Rashvand, M. (1391/2012). Demographic and social factors affecting women's employment of higher education graduates (Case study: Tehran city). Journal of Women in Development & Politics, 10(1), 83-104. [In Persian]

21. Malhotra, A., & Degraff, D. (1997). Entry Versus Success in the Labor Force: Young Women’s Employment in Sri Lanka. World Development, 25(3), 379-394.

22. Maneja, C. A. P. (2002). Women, Weaving, and the Web: An Analysis of Rural Indian Women's Agency in Attaining Economic Empowerment. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

23. McElwee, G. (2005). Developing entrepreneurial skills of farmers. A Literature Review of Entrepreneurship in Agriculture, University of Lincoln. Available on the ESoF–website: http://www. esofarmers. org/documents/ESoFliteraturereview_000. pdf. ‏

24. Mirakzadeh, A., Aliabadi, V., & Shams, A. (1389/2010). Analyzed barriers to rural women's participation in education and extension programs. Journal of Village and Development, 13(2), 147-165. [In Persian]

25. Mohsenin, S. H., & Asfydany, M. R. (1392/2013). Structural Equation Modeling with LISREL (Training and application). Tehran: KetabeMehraban press. [In Persian]

26. Mousavi, S., Amani, A. R., & Allahyari, M. S. (1389/2010). Examining the barriers to rural women's participation in agricultural production activities. Journal of Women and Culture, 2(5), 61-69. [In Persian]

27. Namdar, M. (1389/2010). Factors affecting women's employment, along with the arrival of new technologies to Rural Economy: A case study of Fars Province combine owners. Journal of Village and Development, 13(2), 103-128. [In Persian]

28. Paseban, F. (1385/2006). The socio-economic factors affecting rural women employment in Iran (1968-2004), Journal of Agricultural Economics and Developments, 14(53), 153-176. [In Persian]

29. Rahman, S. (2000). Women's employment in Bangladesh agriculture: composition, determinants and scope. Journal of Rural Studies, 16(1), 497-507.

30. Roomi, M. A., & Parrott, G. (2008). Barriers to development and progression of women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. The Journal of Entrepreneurship, 17(1), 59-72. ‏

31. Safari Shali, R. (1387/2008). A study on social and cultural factors related to the participation level of rural women. Women in Development and Politics, 6(1), 137-159. [In Persian]

32. Sharbatian, M. H. (1387/2009). Social aspects and barriers of women’s employment. Peyke Noor Journal, 7(3), 85-95. [In Persian]

33. Shaverdi, T., & Chitsaz, M. J. (1389/2010). Study on the economic, social and legal problems of female farmers from the viewpoint of rural improvement officials of agricultural Jihad organization. The Journal of Womens' Studies (Journal of Scientific and Research on Women's Studies), 4(1), 119-149. [In Persian]

34. Smit, A. B. (2004). Changing external conditions require high levels of entrepreneurship in agriculture. In XV International Symposium on Horticultural Economics and Management 655 (Pp. 167-173), Berlin, Germany.

35. Tinker, I. (1990). Persistent Inequalities; Women and World Development. New York: Oxford University Press.

36. Xavier, S. R., Ahmad, S. Z., Nor, L. M., & Yusof, M. (2012). Women entrepreneurs: Making a change from employment to small and medium business ownership. Procedia Economics and Finance, 4, 321-334. ‏

37. Yang, D.T. & An, M.Y. (2002). Human capital, entrepreneurship, and farm household earnings. Journal of Development Economics, 68 (2), 65–88.

38. Ziegler, J. M. (1980). Barriers to full employment of rural youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 2 (1-2), 63–80.