Email this article 
Hide
Show all
Analysis of Gender Access to Rural Advisory Services Using a Theory of Planned Behavior Approach in Punjab Pakistan
Abstract
In Pakistan's rural setting, women are active players, performing multifaceted duties and, more specifically, playing key roles in farm operations. To examine gender access to rural advisory services, this study employed qualitative research design and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) as a theoretical framework. This study was conducted in Six randomly selected villages of the District Multan, where villages were identified using consultative meetings with Extension Field Staff (EFS). A total of 12 Focus Group Discussions (6 with Male groups and 6 with female groups) were organized after seeking formal consent from the participants. Data were collected using an open-ended, guided interview and analyzed using Nvivo software. Results indicated that constructs of TPB, like attitude, Perceived Behaviour Control (PBC), and Social Norms (SN), had a positive association with access to advisory services. The male group had more access to advisor services than women, who are less privileged due to social norms. Consequently, the potential of women in agriculture is untapped, and their participation in farm operations is unacknowledged. This study augments the need for specific advisory services for women, tailoring their information needs and disseminating information among them using the potential of digital technologies.
Keywords
References
Aguboshim, F. 2021. Adequacy of sample size in a qualitative case study and the dilemma of data saturation: A narrative review. World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 10(3): 180-187.
Ahmadpour, A., Alizadeh, M. and Moumenihelali, H. 2015. Identifying Factors Affecting the Rural Women's Participation in Educational- Extension Programs of the Jihad-Agriculture Service Centers (Case Study: Amol County). Journal of Research and Rural Planning, 3: 37-49.
Akter, S., Erskine, W., Spyckerelle, L., Branco, L. and Imron, J. 2020. The impact of women’s access to agricultural extension on cropping practices in Timor-Leste. Food Security, 12: 449 – 463.
Ali, N., Zada, A., Ali, M. and Hussain, Z. 2017. Roles of women in agriculture: A case study of rural Lahore, Pakistan. Journal of Rural and Development, 1: 1-11.
Amber, Z. and Fakhar, S. 2019. Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture. International Journal of Advance Study and Research Work (2581-5997), 2.
Ashraf, S., Ch, K. M., Ashraf, I. and Akbar, N. 2024. A phenomenological inquiry into farmers’ experiences growing cotton in Punjab, Pakistan. Scientific Reports, 14(1): 13846.
Azadi, H., Ghazali, S., Ghorbani, M., Tan, R. and Witlox, F. 2022. Contribution of Small-Scale Farmers to Global Food Security: A Meta-Analysis. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 103: 2715-2726
Aziz, N., Ren, Y., Rong, K. and Zhou, J. 2021. Women’s empowerment in agriculture and household food insecurity: Evidence from Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK), Pakistan. Land Use Policy, 102: 105249.
Bala, M. 2023. Impact of Skill Development Programmes for Financial Empowerment of Women. International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research, 5(6): 1-11
Burfat, I., Khaskheli, W. and Qureshi, J. 2019. Social and Cultural Barriers in Women Empowerment: A Case Study of District Jamshoro, Journal of Grassroots, 52(2): 215-223
De Carvalho, L. and Bógus, C. 2020. Gender and Social Justice in Urban Agriculture: The Network of Agroecological and Peripheral Female Urban Farmers from São Paulo. Social Sciences, 9(8): 127.
Diiro, G., Seymour, G., Kassie, M., Muricho, G. and Muriithi, B. 2018. Women’s empowerment in agriculture and agricultural productivity: Evidence from rural maize farmer households in western Kenya. PLoS ONE, 13: 0197995.
Donga, G. and Chimucheka, T. 2024. Rural Women Entrepreneurship in South Africa: Issues and Challenges. African Journal of Inter/Multidisciplinary Studies, 6(1): 1-12.
Eagly, A. and Crowley, M. 1986. Gender and helping behavior: A meta-analytic review of the social psychological literature. Psychological Bulletin, 100(3): 283-308
Eneji, C., Onnoghen, N., Acha, J. and Diwa, J. 2020. Climate change awareness, environmental education and gender role burdens among rural farmers of Northern Cross River State, Nigeria. International Journal of Climate Change Strategies and Management, 13(4/5): 397-415.
Government of Pakistan. 2024. Economic Survey of Pakistan, Finance Division Islamabad, Pakistan
Gul, A., Kausar, S. and Bi, Z. 2022. Issues and challenges for women in creating spaces at decision-making levels: A case study of Pakistan Muslim league-N. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 8: 256-272.
Jabeen, S., Haq, S., Jameel, A., Hussain, A., Asif, M., Hwang, J. and Jabeen, A. 2020. Impacts of Rural Women’s Traditional Economic Activities on Household Economy: Changing Economic Contributions through Empowered Women in Rural Pakistan. Sustainability, 12(7): 2731
Kanyagui, M., Sajithkumar, K., Velankar, Y., Mohan, R., Viswanathan, P., Magnani, N. 2023. Livelihood challenges faced by women in rural India: exploration of solutions using participatory action research. Development in Practice, 34: 512-526.
Khan, I., Akram, A., Fatima, S., Ahmad, B., Rehman, Z., Arshad, N., Sattar, A., and Ahmad, Z. 2022. Problems of agriculture in Pakistan: an insight into their solution. Pakistan Journal of Biotechnology, 19(02): 73-83
Khoja, A. 2021. Participation of rural women in agricultural activities. International Journal of Modern Agriculture and Environment, 1(2): 1-25.
King, N. 2004. Using templates in the thematic analysis of text. In C. Cassell & G. Symon (Eds.), Essential guide to qualitative methods in organizational research (pp. 257–270). London, UK: Sage
Kozleski, E. 2017. The Uses of Qualitative Research. Research and Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 42: 19-32.
Lamontagne-Godwin, J. D. (2019). Gendered relationships in rural advisory services: A Pakistani case study (Doctoral dissertation, University of Reading).
Lamontagne-Godwin, J., Cardey, S., Williams, F., Dorward, P., Aslam, N. and Almas, M. 2019. Identifying gender-responsive approaches in rural advisory services that contribute to the institutionalization of gender in Pakistan. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 25: 267-288.
Lamontagne-Godwin, J., Dorward, P., Aslam, N. and Cardey, S. 2019. Analysing Support Towards Inclusive and Integrated Rural Advisory Systems. Social Sciences, 8(10): 295.
Lamontagne-Godwin, J., Williams, F., Aslam, N., Cardey, S., Dorward, P. and Almas, M. 2018. Gender differences in use and preferences of agricultural information sources in Pakistan. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 24: 419-434.
Lestari, E. and Yuwana, R. 2023. Empowering women farmers through agricultural extension approach focusing on gender equality and sustainability. Acceleration: Multidisciplinary Research Journal, 1(03): 136-146.
Luqman, M., Saqib, R., Xu, S. and Wen, Y. 2018. Barriers to Gender Equality in Agricultural Extension in Pakistan: Evidences from District Sargodha. Sarhad Journal of Agriculture, 34(1): 136-143.
Mamo, Y., Sisay, A., Gilo, B., Gebreselassie, H. and Debisa, M. 2023. Women entrepreneurs in Southern Ethiopia: Capacity building programs for women empowerment and challenges in implementation. Community Development, 54: 395-410.
Moahid, M., Khan, G., Yoshida, Y., Joshi, N. and Maharjan, K. 2021. Agricultural Credit and Extension Services: Does Their Synergy Augment Farmers’ Economic Outcomes? Sustainability, 13(7): 3758.
Mobarok, M., Skevas, T. and Thompson, W. 2021. Women’s empowerment in agriculture and productivity change: The case of Bangladesh rice farms. PLoS ONE, 16(8): e0255589
Mocănașu, D. 2020. Determining the sample size in qualitative research. International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on the Dialogue between Sciences & Arts, Religion & Education.
Mohiuddin, I., Kamran, M., Jalilov, S., Ahmad, M., Adil, S., Ullah, R. and Khaliq, T. 2020. Scale and Drivers of Female Agricultural Labor: Evidence from Pakistan. Sustainability, 12(16), 6633.
Morse, J. 2004. Qualitative significance. Qualitative health research, 14(2): 151-152.
Nazir, S., Khan, I., Maan, A. and Shahbaz, B. 2023. An Analysis of Socio-Economic Vulnerability of Women Waged Labourers in Agriculture Sector in Punjab, Pakistan. Journal of Education and Social Studies, 4(2): 283-292.
Nowell, L. S. Norris1, J. M., White D. E. and Moules, N. J. 2017. Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16: 1–13.
Pokharel, R. 2024. Impact of Skill Trainings on Women Empowerment. Contemporary Social Sciences, 33(1): 25-43
Quisumbing, A. and Pandolfelli, L. 2010. Promising approaches to
address the needs of poor female farmers, 38(4): 581-592.
Ragasa, C. 2014. Improving Gender Responsiveness of Agricultural Extension, In book: Gender in Agriculture, p411-430.
Ragetlie, R., Najjar, D. and Oueslati, D. 2022. Dear Brother Farmer: Gender-Responsive Digital Extension in Tunisia during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sustainability, 14(7): 4162.
Raghunathan, K., Kannan, S. and Quisumbing, A. 2019. Can women's self‐help groups improve access to information, decision‐making, and agricultural practices? The Indian case. Agricultural Economics (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 50: 567-580.
Raji, E., Ijomah, T. and Eyieyien, O. 2024. Improving agricultural practices and productivity through extension services and innovative training programs. International Journal of Applied Research in Social Sciences, 6(7): 1297-1309.
Rice, P. and Ezzy, D. 1999. Qualitative research methods: A health focus. Melbourne: Oxford University Press
Saptu, M., Ambad, S. and Sumin, V. 2020. The Effect of Planned Behaviour Theory on Agropreneurship Intention: The Moderating Role of Gender, 17:213.
Subedi, A. and Garforth, C. 1996. Gender, information and communication networks: Implications for extension, 3: 63-74.
Ulayi, A., Betiang, P., Acha, J., Arikpo, E., Udie, A. and Ojong, R. 2023. Environmental awareness creation through the public enlightenment campaign and sustainable crop farming among female farmers in cross river state, Nigeria. African multidisciplinary Journal of Development, 12(2):58-70.
Van Rijnsoever, F. 2017. (I Can’t Get No) Saturation: A simulation and guidelines for sample sizes in qualitative research, PLoS One, 12(7): e0181689.
Waqas, M., Awan, M. and Nasir, R. 2023. Poverty, Women Empowerment and Role of Agriculture Sector in Pakistan: Estimation of Women Empowerment Index. Journal of Education and Social Studies, 4(3): 508-517.
Wutich, A., Beresford, M. and Bernard, H. 2024. Sample Sizes for 10 Types of Qualitative Data Analysis: An Integrative Review, Empirical Guidance, and Next Steps. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 23:16094069241296206.
Zaremohzzabieh, Z., Krauss, S., D’Silva, J., Tiraieyari, N., Ismail, I. and Dahalan, D. 2021. Towards agriculture as career: predicting students’ participation in the agricultural sector using an extended model of the theory of planned behavior. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension, 28: 67 - 92.
Thomas, J. and Harden, A. 2008. Methods for the thematic synthesis of qualitative research in systematic reviews. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 8(1): 1-10.
DOI: 10.33687/ijae.012.003.4885
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2024 Fazeel Tariq
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
