| dc.description.abstract | The main purpose of the study was to assess and describe the extent of empowerment of rural women through income generating activities (IGAs). The study was conducted in six villages under three unions of South Surma Upazila of Sylhet District. Out of 620 rural women involved in income generating activities, 100 respondents were randomly selected as sample of the study. Data were collected from respondents with the help of a pre-tested interview schedule during August to September, 2013. Empowerment of a respondent was ascertained through nine factors: a) participation in decision making, b) mobility, c) participation in social and political activities d) access to financial organization, e) control over economic activity, f) control over interpersonal activity, g) ownership of the asset , h) savings and i) participation in income generating activities . 4-point rating scale of measurement was used for each of the factors. The overall empowerment score of a respondent was calculated by summing up her scores of these 9 factors. Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r) was employed to explore relationship between extents of empowerment of the respondents with their selected characteristics. The selected characteristics were age, level of education, family education, marital status, family size, occupation, family land holding, and communication exposure, credit received, training received and problem faced by the women in IGAs. The findings revealed that majority (50%) of the rural women had medium level of empowerment while 43 percent had low, five percent had very low, and only two percent had high empowerment. The characteristics age, family education, occupation, communication exposure, credit and training received by the respondents were positively correlated with their empowerment. | en_US |
