Assessment of the Factors Affecting Women Participation in Cooperatives: The Case of West Shewa Zone Districts

In developing countries there were to some extent equal treatments of rural women with men because as traditional perception women could not go far and only doing their surrounding the garden. This perception of cultural were limited the participation level of rural women in cooperative and adversely affected rural women through made them lack of education access and training services provided by cooperatives or agents of cooperatives. The main objectives of study were assessing the factors affecting participation of rural women in cooperatives and evaluate the women participation in internal affairs of cooperatives. West Shewa zone has 22 districts and out of the existing districts, six districts were selected to carry out the research study for assessing the factors affecting women participation in cooperatives and investigate degree of women participation in cooperatives. The total population of rural members in the focused study area were 4,867 and sample size of the research was 356 and it determined by using Kothari formula. The main objective of the study was to assess the factors affecting rural women participation in cooperatives and investigate the degree of rural women participation in cooperatives. The study employed mixed method research approach as research design. It also employed both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis. Beyond the social, political and economic constraints, women often face cultural barriers that restrict their involvement in public meetings or that place their domestic responsibilities before their economic or social involvement in agricultural cooperatives. Lack of education access of women has limited their equally participation in cooperatives. Since most women have no access to education they did not recognize the advantage of some development interventions so that they are unwilling to accept something which is new for them. In the study, the problem observed that against the women did not participate in activities report with equality are lack of infrastructures facility, poor network linkages among them, and lack of interest due to self-individuals affairs and self-complain as lack of sufficient knowledge and responsibilities with understood them self as someone ignores their idea generation and suggestion in internal affairs of cooperatives. Majority of member’s lacks of communication access such as telephone or mobile cell and they living in dispersion area had limited cooperatives to disseminate information about the cooperative’s attending regular meeting. It is also familiar that in developing countries poor infrastructures facilities were the main factors that affect equal participation of women in cooperatives.