Role of Cooperative in Women Empowerment in Kaski District

Abstract

Empowerment of women is one of the very important issues in developing countries. As women are the integral part of the society, her status and participation in decision making as well as economic activities is very low. Cooperative plays important role in

improving

in women decision making by contributing in economic activities. Cooperative is powerful tools to self-empower the poor especially women at world level. The main aim of cooperative is empowerment of women. The paper discusses the role of cooperatives in generating income for the rural population in the locality of the municipality for sustainable rural development. A cooperative can be effective if institutional arrangements simultaneously followed to break the vicious cycle of poverty in a rural socio-economic context by increasing income generation and social awareness according to the social and economic development situation. Under the effective supervision and leadership of the members, if the cooperative can be well managed and strengthened, it can potentially strengthen the area of transferability of the rural community and thus contribute to sustainable rural development. Women empowerment are measured by Economic Security, Household and economic decision-making, legal Awareness mobility and family decision-making. This study based on primary data through administered questionnaire to the women and some office those who are involved in Cooperative program in Kaski district. The role of cooperatives in everyday life and the socio-economic status of cooperative members studied through discussion with cooperative members, cooperative officials, and local officials. Descriptive and analytical research design has used to collect the opinions and know about the behavior of respondents. Data analyzed by using percentage, pie chart, trend line and table. This Study investigate the social-economic improvement and decision-making power of women after involvement in Cooperative programs. The result show a positive changes on economic security, household economic decision making, legal awareness, mobility, and family decision making after participating in Cooperative program. The world scenario of cooperative role in income generation is mostly positive and progressive and this study shows similar results in terms of their socio-economic status and changes as a result of engaging in cooperative activities, so it should be promoted to the rural community as it obliges the rural people to achieve together common social and economic goal.