Engagement In Income-generating Activities Research Articles

Income-Generating Activities and Economic Empowerment of Rural Women in the Mion District, Ghana: A Phenomenological Study

The economic empowerment of rural women is pivotal to sustainable development, particularly in areas where traditional gender roles and limited access to resources impede their economic participation. This phenomenological study investigates the lived experiences of rural women in the Mion District of Ghana, focusing on their engagement in income-generating activities (IGAs) and the associated challenges and opportunities. Employing qualitative research methods, including in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, the study reveals that these women predominantly engage in farming, trading shea butter and dawadawa, and charcoal production. Despite their significant contributions to household incomes and the local economy, these women face substantial barriers such as inadequate access to education and training, insufficient infrastructure, and restrictive cultural norms. The findings underscore the critical role of intergenerational knowledge transfer, with many participants learning their skills from their mothers. However, the lack of formal training and support from governmental and non-governmental organizations limits their ability to enhance productivity and profitability. The study emphasizes the need for targeted interventions to improve access to modern agricultural techniques, business management skills, and financial resources. Additionally, policy reforms promoting gender equality in economic activities are essential to creating an enabling environment for these women. This research contributes to the broader discourse on rural development and gender equity by highlighting the resilience and adaptability of rural women and the necessity for inclusive policies and support mechanisms. The insights gained from this study offer valuable implications for policymakers, development practitioners, and stakeholders committed to fostering the economic empowerment of rural women, ultimately contributing to sustainable development goals. Future research should continue to explore and address the unique challenges faced by rural women, ensuring their active participation in the economic landscape and enhancing their socio-economic well-being.

Microcredit and Women’s Empowerment: A Case Study in Rural Morocco

Women's empowerment is one of the biggest barriers to progress in Morocco, since women continue to constitute the majority of disadvantaged and marginalized groups, particularly in rural areas. Our contribution is to evaluate the impact of participation in a microfinance institution (MFI) on women’s empowerment in the rural commune of Aoufous, located in the Errachidia province (Morocco). It is divided into two sections. First, it compares the empowerment of women who participate in a MFI to women who do not participate in any MFI. Second, it examines whether loan amount, length of membership, income-generating activities and household income, influence the overall empowerment index among MFI participants. To do this, an overall empowerment index is constructed employing five dimensions of empowerment: economic decision-making, household decision-making, freedom of movement, political and social awareness and ownership of assets. Then a regression analysis is carried out using primary data collected from a sample of 76 women (33 members and 46 non-members) from the research region. Our findings indicate that participation in the microcredit program has a significant and positive role in determining the overall empowerment index. Furthermore, the loan amounts as well as engagement in income-generating activities are significant determinants of women empowerment. According to the findings of our study, MFIs play an essential role in women’s empowerment.

Gender Earnings Gap among Urban Youth Adults in Bangladesh: A Comparative Static Analysis

Despite the importance and recognition of young women's engagement in income-generating activities for socio-economic development, the gender earnings gap still persists across countries, especially in developing countries like Bangladesh. This study presents two datasets from the most recent past to provide fresh evidence for Bangladesh’s urban labor market that has yet to be closely studied. Using individual-level data from the BBS’s (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics) Labour Force Surveys (LFS) conducted in 2010 and 2015, we have explored the gender earnings gap among the youth (aged 18 to 35 as per Bangladesh’s National Youth Policy 2017) working and earning in the urban labor markets of Bangladesh by applying the three approaches: Mincerian regression, Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition and Quantile regression. The first approach confirms that young women earn significantly less than young men in the urban labor markets after controlling the influences of the covariates. The detailed decomposition results of the second approach indicate that gender differences in hours worked, education, firm characteristics and locations also contribute to the gender earnings gap and the market discrimination against the youth women’s earnings remain the same over the years. The third approach using the lens of distribution perspective shows that earnings gaps persist up to the 25th percentile of distribution in 2010 though it persists across the entire earnings distribution in 2015. The results suggest that engaging more women in income-generating activities, increasing the number of hours worked, improving access to higher education and creating enabling working environment for women might reduce the gender earnings gap.

Income generation and empowerment pathways for rural women of Jagusi Parish, Uganda: A double-sided sword

This paper contributes to the growing literature on women's economic empowerment by exploring the relationship between women's engagement in income-generating activities (IGAs) and their capacity to realize self-defined goals, centered on well-being and decision-making. Mixed methods data were analyzed to understand local conceptualizations of an ‘empowered’ woman in Jagusi Parish, Uganda. Women participated in a survey and an innovative Card Sorting Game (CSG), choosing scenario cards that they ‘experienced’ or ‘aspired to experience’ in the future, then ranking and describing their choices. The scenarios were designed by local health and development practitioners together with the research team and pre-tested with village women. Experiences with these scenarios were then compared for women engaged and not engaged in income-generating activities to see how IGAs may create, or widen, empowerment pathways for local women. While structural barriers of poverty and gender discrimination remain major challenges in Jagusi, this study provides evidence that in some important ways, such as educating children and sharing decisions on family budgets, engagement in IGAs has advanced women's empowerment in line with what Jagusi women value most. The evidence also shows that women's engagement in IGAs is important in poverty management but for most households has not proven to be transformational in lifting families out of poverty.

Income Generation and Empowerment Pathways for Rural Women of Jagusi Parish, Uganda: A Double-Sided Sword

This paper contributes to the growing literature on women’s economic empowerment by exploring the effects of engagement in income-generating activities (IGAs) on capacity to realize self-defined goals, centered on well-being and decision-making. Women from Jagusi Parish, Uganda, participated in an innovative Card Sorting Game (CSG), choosing locally-framed empowerment scenarios that they ‘experienced’ or ‘aspired to experience’ in the future, ranking their choices. Statistical analysis compared groups of women with and without IGAs with respect to CSG choices and selected survey questions. Structural barriers of poverty and gender discrimination remain major challenges in Jagusi. Yet, many women prove to be resilient and creative in meeting their self-defined goals, while generally conforming to prevailing social and cultural norms. This study provides evidence that some women are incrementally using their IGA earnings to acquire assets, establish businesses, improve domestic relations, and participate in community affairs that ultimately may sidestep discriminatory laws and norms to allow women to exercise increased political and economic influence.

Bacha posh in Afghanistan: factors associated with raising a girl as a boy

This paper examines the factors associated with the cultural phenomenon of bacha posh in Afghanistan (in which girls are dressed and raised as boys), which occurs against a background of rigid gender norms and the male-centric nature of Afghan families. Survey data were collected from 1463 women in two provinces of Afghanistan, Kabul and Nangarhar. The primary outcome is a nominal variable, derived from the question, ‘Do you have any girl in your family who has been raised for any time as a boy?’ Independent variables comprise women’s socio-demographic characteristics, family composition, economic characteristics, patriarchal gender attitudes and perceptions of community patriarchal attitudes. Factors associated with bacha posh include women having fewer sons and more daughters, working in the past three months and having less patriarchal gender attitudes. That bacha posh is often driven by a large number of daughters in the family with a corresponding low number of sons suggests that bacha posh is a response to very contextual features of Afghan life, including the preference for sons. Bacha posh in the family is linked to less patriarchal gender norms and can be a way for girls and women to acquire education, mobility and engagement in income-generating activities.

The role of older persons in Uganda: Assessing socio-demographic determinants of older persons’ value

Extensive research has been conducted on diverse socio-demographic issues such as child and maternal mortality in Uganda but the contribution of older persons to their households and communities has been comparatively under-investigated. This article bridges the gap by discussing prevalence and determinants of the value of persons aged sixty and above in the country. Four rural districts were randomly selected while one urban area was purposively chosen in a cross-sectional study conducted from March to April 2012. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data on 605 older persons. Engagement in income-generating activities, possession of indigenous knowledge, advice on behaviour norms, role played in social organizations, propagation of cultural norms, dispensing local medicine and providing childcare were all aspects of value studied. Using scaling technique, these eight variables were aggregated into a single total indicator of value, operationally defined as aggregate value. The variable was then dichotomized into low aggregate value and high aggregate value. Binary logistic regression was used to analyse socio-demographic factors predicting high aggregate value. Findings indicate that nearly four in ten older persons had high aggregate value. In comparison with persons of no education, those having primary and secondary or higher education were more likely to have high aggregate value. In comparison with persons who did not own land, those who owned land were more likely to have high aggregate value. Results further indicate that having out-migrated children predicted high aggregate value. In comparison with the Central region of the country, older persons living in the Western, Northern and Kampala regions were more likely to have high aggregate value. The findings have several implications including for the design of later-life socio-economic programmes, establishment of a special old age fund and increasing learner access and retention rates in the national education system.

Old is Gold: What influences Older Persons’ Engagement in Income-generating Activities in Uganda?

The paper discusses the engagement of older persons in income-generating activities in Uganda and examines factors that influence this involvement. Analysis is based on primary data collected from four randomly selected districts and one purposefully selected urban area of Uganda. A sample of 605 older males and females is used. Logistic regression is used in the analysis of factors influencing the engagement. Information from Focus Group Discussions and Key Informants is used to supplement the findings of the quantitative results. Findings indicate that relatively younger older persons (60-79) were more likely to be engaged in income-generating activities than their older counterparts (80 and over). In comparison with no education, older persons with primary and higher education were more likely to be engaged in income-generation. The elderly who owned any means of transport and domestic animals were more likely to be engaged in income-generation than those who did not own any transport facility and domestic livestock respectively. The elderly with feet joint ill-health were less likely to be involved in income-generation than their counterparts without such health challenge. The conclusion is that age, education, feet health status and ownership of domestic livestock and transport facility influenced engagement in income-generating activities.

Cities through a “gender lens”: a golden “urban age” for women in the global South?

Although urban women generally enjoy some advantages over their rural counterparts, a range of gender inequalities and injustices persist in urban areas that constrain their engagement in the labour market and in informal enterprises and inhibit the development of capabilities among younger women. These include unequal access to decent work, human capital acquisition, financial and physical assets, intra-urban mobility, personal safety and security, and representation in formal structures of urban governance. But the nature of these varies for different groups of women, not only on account of poverty status and where they live in the city, but also according to age, household characteristics, degree of engagement in income-generating activities and so on. This paper reviews what we have learnt from the literature on gender and urban development. It discusses disparities in access to education and vocational training and to land and housing ownership through a “gender lens”. It considers service deficiencies and associated time burdens, which limit income generation among women. Violence and gender, and gender divisions in access to different spaces within the city and in engagement in urban politics, are also covered. These factors cast doubt on whether women’s contributions to the prosperity often associated with urbanization are matched by commensurate returns and benefits.