Identifying Factors Affecting the Rural Women's Participation in Educational-extension Programs of the Jihad-Agriculture Service Centers (Case Study: Amol County)

Abstract

Porpuse: This study aims to identify factors affecting rural women's participation in educational- extension programs of the Jihad- Agriculture service centers in Amol township, in order to be able to take positive steps in facilitating and accelerating the process of rural and agricultural development, as the result of the improvement in their level of participation. Methodology: Considering the aims of the study, the present study is applied research and descriptive-correlational in nature. To collect data, library research and field survey were used. The data collection instrument used in this study was a questionnaire, which reliability and validity has been confirmed by the use of the Cronbach's alpha test (86/0> α> 78/0) and the related experts’ opinions. The research population consisted of 67,488 (N= 67488) rural women in Amol township; from which, based on Cochran formula, 384 subjects (N=384) were selected using proportional stratified sampling. SPSS16 software was also used for data analysis. Findings: Descriptive results of this study demonstrated that rural women's participation in educational-extension programs is on a good level. The analytical results showed that there is a significant positive relationship between rural women’s age, education level, monthly income, the extent of information sources’ use, social characteristics, attitudinal characteristics, and economic characteristics on one hand; and the extent of their participation in educational-extension programs on the other hand. The results of multiple regression analysis also revealed that the economic characteristics, educational level, income level, attitudinal factors, age and the extent of using information sources, explain 37.10% of the variations in participation rates of rural women in educational-extension programs. Research limitation: Access to rural women and gaining the needed information, were the major challenges in the present study. Practical implications: According to the research results, conducting gender analysis to provide information in order to clarify the role and the significance of rural women’s education in sustainable agriculture and rural development, educational promotion of rural women, improving women's attitudes and etc. can be considerably effective in increasing the participation of rural women in educational- extension programs. Original/value: Considering the fundamental role of rural women in agricultural and rural development -especially in the northern regions of Iran-, identifying factors that affect the extent of their participation in educational-extension programs of Jihad-Agriculture service centers which facilitate agricultural and rural development, is so necessary.