An Investigation of Effective Factors on Rrural Women's Psychological Empowerment in Sari

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

The overall aim of this study was to investigate effective factors affecting rural women's ppsychological empowerment in Sari. To achieve this aim, women's psychological empowerment indicators and affecting factors on women's psychological empowerment were identified in Sari. The statistical population comprised 111124 women in the rural areas of Sari. Women were selected through stratified random sampling technique, from which a sample of 270 women was taken randomly. Research methodology applied in this study was a combination of descriptive-analytical and quantitative methods. Also Cranach’s alpha was 0.85. The average age of women in rural areas was 46.33 years and more than 86.3 percent of rural women in Sari had more than 11 years of working experience in agriculture sector. The average family size was 4 per family. Also, 62 percent of the women's psychological empowerment variance in rural areas of Sari was determined by six factors of communication rate: to have a loan from different sources, useful rate of methods and approaches, obstacles, solutions and education. The most effective factor on women's psychological empowerment in rural areas of Sari was a loan from different source with path coefficient of 0.423. The maximum amount was related to rural women's loan getting from other women. The most useful methods in providing educational services for rural women in Sari were group activity methods such as educational workshops on processing agricultural products. The major barrier to rural women's ppsychological empowerment was women's lack of trust in each other and the main solution was giving loans and credits to rural women.

Keywords