Rural Women Striding Forward

Global Fund for Women believes the empowerment of rural women, a continued focus on food security, and access to resources are women's rights issues; all three are needed to address critical gaps in human rights and development processes. To this end, Global Fund launched a 2.5 year grant making and learning initiative in June 2011 to support 22 rural women's groups working on sustainable agriculture and the promotion of women's rights in Burkina Faso, Kenya, and Uganda. Our research framework addressed critical questions regarding constraints facing women farmers, and their preferred strategies for enhanced agricultural performance and advocacy for their human rights. We expected the learnings would provide strategic direction for grantees' work, Global Fund programs and the funding practices of other donor and development actors. This summary shares key findings from the 2013 evaluation of the initiative

Barriers to rural women's involvement in economic activities : evidence from Shaanxi, China : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand

With China’s fast development in urbanization and agricultural modernization, rural women are one of the most affected yet ignored groups in society. However, strong evidence has shown that women’s active economic participation can not only reduce the likelihood of household poverty, but also improve distributional dynamics within a household. With first-hand data collected from three areas in one province, this research studies rural women’s barriers to economic participation in farming and off-farm employment under the government’s policy of land transfer. It is found that rural women are facing different challenges and have diversified needs and aspirations. There is a mismatch between the training local government offered and what rural women really want. The study of women professional farmers aims at building an updated understanding of rural women within the fast pace of China’s modernization. This research covers some of the critical factors of economic growth, such as the role of geography, gender, history and institutions. The findings provide information to policy makers, researchers and social organizations concerned with the future of rural women, and assist the sustainable implementation of the land transfer policy and gender equality

Solutions for Financial Inclusion: Serving Rural Women

This document presents a CaseStudy for solutions for financial inclusion. Using Uganda as a CaseStudy, Women's World Banking set out to better understand the needs of rural women and to use the research and lessons learned there to make recommendations on the design and delivery of microfinance products within Uganda and throughout sub-Saharan Africa. The research highlights the specific gender-based social, cultural and legal barriers that rural women face in accessing and using financial services and examines operational challenges to effectively serving this market

Cognitive change in women's empowerment in rural Bangladesh

Rural women in Bangladesh have limited access to resources and public spheres due to socio-cultural restrictions. Women suffer from severe discrimination, due partly to a lack of access to information. Information and communication and technologies (ICT) are tools that potentially can reach rural women and address their knowledge and information needs. Considering this scenario, the aim of this paper is to examine the situation of rural women using ICT tools provided by non-government and government organizations, and investigate whether access to ICT has changed their lives in terms of socio-economic development. Using a structured questionnaire, data was collected from women in villages where two different ICT projects have been introduced. The change in women's awareness, skills and knowledge of the wider environment on various issues (including health, education, legal rights) is described. These cognitive changes were compared in women with ICT intervention and women who did not use ICT. The overall cognitive awareness of the women indicates more changes among women with ICT intervention than without. Therefore, ICT intervention in rural villages in Bangladesh is leading to empowerment

Gender roles and multiple uses of water in North Gujarat

Gender / Rural women / Households / Income / Water use / Villages / Farmers / Groundwater / Livestock / Irrigated farming / Policy

Livelihoods and gender roles in drip-irrigation technology: A case of Nepal

Gender / Drip irrigation / Technology / Rural women / Empowerment / Vegetables / Family income / Households / Villages / Farmers / Economic aspects

Utilisation of Postnatal Care among Rural Women in Nepal

Background: Postnatal care is uncommon in Nepal, and where it is available the quality is often poor. Adequate utilisation of postnatal care can help reduce mortality and morbidity among mothers and their babies. Therefore, our study assessed the utilisation of postnatal care at a rural community level. Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was carried out in two neighbouring villages in early 2006. A total of 150 women who had delivered in the previous 24 months were asked to participate in the study using a semi-structured questionnaire. Results: The proportion of women who had received postnatal care after delivery was low (34%). Less than one in five women (19%) received care within 48 hours of giving birth. Women in one village had less access to postnatal care than women in the neighbouring one. Lack of awareness was the main barrier to the utilisation of postnatal care. The woman's own occupation and ethnicity, the number of pregnancies and children and the husband's socio-economic status, occupation and education were significantly associated with the utilisation of postnatal care. Multivariate analysis showed that wealth as reflected in occupation and having attended antenatal are important factors associated with the uptake of postnatal care. In addition, women experiencing health problems appear strongly motivated to seek postnatal care. Conclusion: The postnatal care has a low uptake and is often regarded as inadequate in Nepal. This is an important message to both service providers and health-policy makers. Therefore, there is an urgent need to assess the actual quality of postnatal care provided. Also there appears to be a need for awareness-raising programmes highlighting the availability of current postnatal care where this is of sufficient quality