Research No-1
Characterising Loan Default among Women Microcredit Borrowers an Empirical Study in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia
Aims: Credit is a critical input for agriculture and women empowerment. Rural Savings and Credit Cooperatives (RuSACCOs) are important financial institutions in remote villages of Ethiopia offering avenues for savings and credit for farmers and the poor. The aim of this study was to find out the repayment status of loans obtained by women farmers who were members in RuSAACOs.
Study Design: The Study design followed was Ex-post facto Design through survey research.
Place and Duration of Study: This study was undertaken in Kindo Koysha Woreda (district) in Wolaita Zone, Ethiopia. The study was held between December 2015 and May 2016.
Sample: From four randomly selected RuSACCOs of the study district, 96 women farmers who had been members of RuSACCOs were selected as respondents.
Methodology: Primary and Secondary data were gathered respectively from women members and district government agencies respectively. The sample size was determined using Yamane formula. The primary data yielded quantitative information on repayment status (Repaid regularly or otherwise). Similarly, data was gathered on 17 personal, socio-economic characteristics of the women members to provide the backdrop for their loan repayment status and to analyze the possible linkage between such characteristics and the repayment status.
Results: Descriptive statistics of the study showed that out of 96 respondents 50 per cent repaid the loan before due dates and the rest 50 percent could not repay the loan before due dates. The following categories of women borrowers were found to have higher tendency to repay rather than not to repay on time: Younger women, more educated, married, with lower dependency ratio, with higher household income and expenses, with higher livestock holding, with prior business engagement, having better access to road and market, who availed higher loan amount and having higher amount as savings in RuSACCO, higher level of training, following weekly repayment rather than fortnightly or monthly and higher economic motivation. Interestingly, the characteristics of women like family size, household social ceremony expense, timeliness and adequacy of loan did not show any association with repayment status.
Conclusion: The study recommended that RuSACCOs must follow up closely with women borrowers having the characteristics opposite of those aforementioned (in “Results” paragraph) for ensuring prompt repayment of loan. The cooperative management could consider frequent cooperative training of women members for ensuring prompt repayment of loan.
Research No-2
Impact of Self-Help Groups on Empowerment Status of Rural Women in Udaipur District
The study was conducted in the Udaipur district of Rajasthan to know the level of empowerment of rural women through self-help groups. A total of ten groups were selected from Badgaon panchayat samiti. A sample of 130 respondents (100 SHG members and 30 non members) was selected for the study. Questionnaire method was used for collecting the data. The four parameters which are considered to be the scale of determining the level of knowledge are socio-psychological, economic, legal and political issues. The results revealed that medium empowerment status was found in all four components i.e. socio-psychological, economic, legal and political with mean scores 2.71, 2.60, 2.49 and 2.60. Whereas not a single member had medium empowerment in socio-psychological and legal component with mean per cent score 2.56 and 2.34. Similarly, the non-members had poor empowerment in economic and political component with mean scores 2.26 and 2.16, respectively.
Research No-3
Women Empowerment – A Comparative Case Study among Agricultural and Coir Industry Wage Labourers
A comparative study was conducted among randomly selected Agricultural and Coir Industry women wage Labourers of Sonitpur district, Assam, India during 2012-13 to find out whether more economic empowerment of women is able to change the status of women in society or still customs and values play a role to assign status of a person thorough field survey and questioner methods. It was found that the agricultural wage labourers had more children than that of the coir industry wage labourers. It was because of preference for male child and lesser control over choices. Though they didn’t want to have another child, the preference and inability to take the decisions along with their husbands led to more children. The decision making authority was solely with the male partners. Whereas, the coir industry wage labourers had some power with their husbands to take decisions like family planning. Those decisions had an impact on the family income and expenditure. The family income of the coir industry wage labourers were higher than that of the agricultural wage labourers and having lesser children had positive impact on the children’s education and nutritional supply in the families. The coir industry wage labourers were comparatively more educated than the agricultural wage labourers. This also helped them to go for family planning. With extra income, the coir industry labourers were able to spend more in nutritious food, education for children and the expenses on the alcoholic items were cut down as came up in the study vis-a-vis the agricultural wage labours. The agricultural wage labourers were new in the field of savings. Very recently they had started savings and they didn’t have any bank deposits rather they saved very small amounts with Self Help Groups (SHG). The coir industry wage labourers also had savings with SHGs and very few had deposits in banks. However, the concept of saving was new to them. The household items of the agricultural labourers’ house didn’t include electricity, but most of them had mobile phones. Nevertheless, the coir industry labourers were well equipped with household items necessary for better sustenance. Economic self-sufficiency and education, use of technology, exposure to the outer world, decision making etc. determined the amount of empowerment. The agricultural labourers were comparatively lacking in empowerment than the coir industry labourers in Tezpur sub-division of Sonitpur district of Assam, India.
Research No-4
Rural Women Empowerment in New Valley Governorate, Egypt
Aims: The objectives of this study are to: i) Measure the rural women’s empowerment level, and ii) Determine factors affecting rural women’s empowerment level.
Study Design: One-time point cross-sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Data were collected through personal interviews of 300 rural women (240 from Al-Mounirah village belonging to El-Kharga district and 60 ones from Al-Thaniyah (the second) village belonging to Darb El-Arbaien, Paris District), during the period from May to June, 2016 using a questionnaire form.
Methodology: Frequencies, percentages, range, average, standard deviation, weighted average (relative weight), T test, Pearson’s simple correlation, Step-Wise Regression Analysis, and verification of hypotheses were used for data processing and presentation.
Results: Findings revealed that dimensions of rural women’s empowerment could be ranked as social (relative weight = 60.8%), cognitive and psychological (RW = 60.7% for each), economic (RW = 58.7%), and finally the political dimension of empowerment (RW = 56%). Of the studied eleven independent variables, eight variables accounted for 71.9% of variance in rural women’s economic empowerment, seven accounted for 61.7% of variance in political empowerment, eight accounted for 69.6% of variance in social dimension, one accounted for 4% and 1.6 of variance in cognitive and psychological dimensions, respectively. Results also indicated that the eight independent variables (family type, average of sons’ education, average age of sons, family size, women’s age, women’s employment status, and husband’s age) accounted for 63.4% of variance in rural women’s overall empowerment.
Conclusion: The study concluded that rural women’s empowerment could be strengthened through support factors influencing it.
Research No-5
Evidence of women’s empowerment in India: a study of socio-spatial disparities
Various national and international communities have addressed women’s issues and taken various efforts to empower them so as to enhance their social and health status and involve them in developmental activities. The Indian DHS survey (National Family Health Survey, 1998–1999) provides an opportunity to study women’s empowerment in India. The survey collected information on several dimensions of women’s empowerment from 90,303 ever-married women (ages 15–49), from all the states of India. Utilizing these data sets, four indices – household autonomy index, mobility index, attitude towards gender index and attitude towards domestic violence index – are constructed to measure the different dimensions of empowerment. Using these indices, the spatial and socio-economic and cultural disparities that exist within India are analyzed. Finally, an attempt is made to identify some important determinants for women’s empowerment using multiple logistic regression analysis. The results show that at the national level, 43% of the women have high household autonomy; 23% of the women have high freedom to move outside their home; 40% of the women have no gender preference attitude; and only 43% of the women defy domestic violence. But there are significant divergences in these indices of women’s empowerment across the different states and socio-economic and cultural settings within India. Women’s educational levels emerged as an important predictor for all the four dimensions of women’s empowerment. Additionally, media exposure and age have emerged as the important predictors for some dimensions of woman’s empowerment.
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