Role of self-help groups on socioeconomic development and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)among rural women in Cooch Behar District,India

This study examines the transformative role of self-help groups(SHGs)in the socioeconomic development of rural women in Cooch Behar District,India,and their contribution toward achieving Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)of the United Nations.In this study,we explored the effect of SHGs on rural women by specifically addressing SDGs,such as no poverty(SDG 1),zero hunger(SDG 2),good health and well-being(SDG 3),quality education(SDG 4),and gender equality(SDG 5).Given this issue,a cross-sectional survey and comparison analyses are needed to assess the socioeconomic development of rural women and their awareness level before and after the participation of rural women in SHGs.The survey conducted as part of this study was divided into three sections,namely,demographic characteristics,socioeconomic development,and awareness level,with each focusing on different aspects.A group of 400 individuals who were part of SHGs completed the questionnaire survey form.The results showed that the participation of rural women in SHGs significantly improved their socioeconomic development and awareness level,as supported by both mean values and t test results.Memberships in SHGs and microcredit programs were the major elements that boosted the socioeconomic development of rural women,which also achieves SDGs 1,2,3,4,and 5.This study revealed that participation in SHGs and related financial services significantly aided rural women in economically disadvantaged communities in accumulating savings and initiating entrepreneurial ventures.Moreover,participation in SHGs was instrumental in enhancing the self-confidence,self-efficacy,and overall self-esteem of rural women.Finally,doing so enabled them to move more freely for work and other activities and to make family and common decisions.

Forest Dependent Survival Strategies of Rural Women in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State

This study was conducted in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State. The major objective is to ascertain the forest dependent survival strategies of rural women in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State. The specific objectives are to ascertain the socio- economic characteristics of the women, find out the forest based activities of the women, identify what they do with products collected from the forest, establish how much income they make from such products weekly and identify the challenges of these women in exploiting forest for survival. Ten villages were selected and from the selected communities, 15 women were randomly selected in each community to give 150 respondents. From the result of the survey about 96.0% of the respondents had household sizes of between 6-10 persons. Women collect many forest products which include seeds, herbs, honey, mushroom, fuel wood, snails, stimulants, bitter kola, pear, raffia leaves （fronds）, edible worms, wrapping leaves, spices, bush mango, locust beans, wild fruits, leaves, fuel wood, snails, mushrooms and fruits. Some of the forest products are used for income generation only, some for household use, while others are used for both income generation and household use. The major constraint is the decline in the availability of forest products as a result of deforestation, over exploitation, bush burning and long distance to available forests. The study shows that forest products play a significant role in improving the livelihood of rural people. Rural development and future forest conservation strategies and interventions should pay attention to the contribution of forest products to people＇s livelihood and environmental sustainability.

Rural Women's Aspirations through Art Work

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Change China With Rural Women

Nobody would expect a rural woman with limited schooling to become a Hillary Clinton in a matter of a week. But after attending a 7-day training program, the 40 women from villages of Mancheng, a rural county in Hebei Province 150 kilometers southwest of Beijing, found themselves ready to make an impact in their respective communities’ politics. "I’m running against my own father for the position of village head," said the 19-year-old Li Yinghui, at a mock campaign at the end of the training in early April. "I have more education than he does, and I understand the difficulties confronting us rural women better."

Rural Women Transfer from the Perspective of Family Migration

At first,this article gives an overview of previous researches on family migration,the pulling force and drag force of the rural residents' behavior of going out. On the basis of questionnaire survey of rural woman's behavior of going out in Anhui Province,conducted in early 2011,this article studies the pulling force and drag force of rural woman's behavior of going out,their will to settle in the city,and the obstacles to settlement. Finally,I derive three pulling forces of rural woman's behavior of going out,and three major factors influencing settlement in city.

Assessment of the knowledge, attitude and practice of rural women of northeast Nigeria on risk factors associated with cancer of the Cervix

Cervical cancer is the leading cancer-related cause of death among women in Nigeria. An estimated 70,700 new cases occur each year, representing one quarter of all female cancers in sub Saharan Africa. The magnitude of the problem has been under recognised and under prioritised compared with the competing health priorities of infectious diseases such as HIV/ AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Studies in the United States and Nigeria have indicated that the disease has the highest incidence among the lowest socio-economic groups especially residing in rural areas. The peak age for the disease has been shown to be within 35-45 years age group. Knowledge of the risk factors of the disease is deemed important in its early detection and prevention. The objective of this study was to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of rural women with cancer of the cervix. A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among 1600 rural women aged 15-55 years (randomly selected from 28 villages) who were interviewed using a structured questionnaire between April and June, 2010. The majority (82.2%) were married before the age of 20 years and 19.3% before 15 years, 40% in polygamous union, 22.6% have had 2 or more sexual partners, 71.3% were primi and grand multiparous, 7.5% have had previous treatment for STIs and 10.1% were on various types of contraceptive. 454 (28.4%) have heard of Ca cervix, 358 (22.4%) knew the location of the cervix. 2.3% had Pap smear test of which 72.6% were within 2 years. The majority (89.9%) will avail themselves for screening.

Women Awareness on the Importance of Agriculture Technologies Using ICT-Based Training Programs

Awareness policy intended to contribute to changing rural women realities to urgent needs of information and gain knowledge was to be demonstrated through in-depth information and communication technology-based(ICTs-based)training program that focused on the importance of advanced agricultural technologies in the production chain in developing countries like Egypt through access and use of the ICTs.Women are becoming well trained on the detailed steps of improved technologies applied in supply chain.Their increased awareness of the necessity of quality management to be followed during their work in the postharvest handling system helped them to produce high-quality products to meet the export requirements of foreign markets and add value to the export quality.Women have been able to reduce the extremely high losses that occurred due to improper handling in particular.The outcomes of proper and healthy procedures,precautions and personal protection were gained by rural women and technicians working in the supply chain.Moreover,women themselves became more confident in their know-how and more comfortable in transgressing cultural norms that inhibited their progress.

Rural Women Climb Poverty

WITHIN the past 15 year economic development in China has experienced an unprecedented leap forward. However, much like the widely varied geography of China, great economic differences exist across this vast country. In 1984 the State Council designated 14 areas as poor areas in China. Most of these areas are distributed throughout th remote, western mountainous region, an in some densely populated communities of ethnic groups. A number of peasants in these areas still go without adequate food or clothing.

Hot Land Created by Rural Women

Tens of thousands of visitors attended the China national exhibition on "Rural Women's Achievements in Ten Years of the Dual Campaign" that was held recently in Beijing. Through pictures, models, material objects and video shows displayed throughout the 5, 700 square meters of floor space, they got to know of many rural women and their excellent performances. Their economic and social benefits helped the audience to re-appraise them, appreciating them as contributors to the state not just poor rural women w...

Rural Women Get Help from Women Students

SINCE more and more rural women have become involved in commercial production, they have become more and more eager to learn about scientific technology. The Women’s Federation of Beijing had long been looking for a direct and effective way to help them. Luo Xiaolu, vicedirector of the Federation, found in her investigation of the present conditions of intellectual women in Beijing that women students were also eager to get in touch with society. Then she had an idea that women students in universities and colleges should go to the countryside. Thus, an activity developed called "women college students and rural women, hand in hand."

Rural Women Fight for Their Right to Land

TONG Sufang never expected that she would lose her land ongetting married.Tong,27,was married in 1992 to a man inanother village.The couple moved to the city to find jobs,leavingtheir land to their parents.Earlier this year,when the village whereTong lived before her marriage distributed another round ofcontracted land,Tong was not listed as a candidate for a share ofthe village soil.The reason:Tong is married and does not live inthe village any more,although she has never moved hermembership to her husband’s village and is still legally a memberof the village of her childhood. The same thing happened to Hou Cunli,who moved to

Chinese Rural Women's Decision-Making Status in Family

THE decision-making status of rural women in families is an important aspect which reflects the degree of their participation in development. Implementation of the Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women represent over the past 10 years has witnessed the gradual maturation of the production-related contract responsibility system in Chinese rural areas. Family functions have been further strengthened in both productive and social development in basic units such as production, consumption and trade. The period has been an important time for the rapid development of Chinese

UN Official Helps Chinese Rural Women Journey from Poverty to Empowerment

"ONE of the biggest challenges that the international society and this conference has confronted is the fight against poverty," said Dr. Leena M. Kirjavainen. a division director with Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) at the Fourth World Conference on Women (FWCW). "Today more than 550 million women live below the poverty line in rural areas worldwide. The feminization of poverty has become the major obstacle to the empowerment of women."

HPV Infection among Uygur Women in a Rural Area of Hetian Prefecture,Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China

It is not clear how HPV infection is prevalent among Uygur women in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China and whether the distribution of HPV infection is related with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia （CIN） incidence among them. A study including 883 Uygur women were conducted from 2006 to 2007 in Hetian Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China.

Vulnerability Factors of Afghan Rural Women to Disasters

Disaster management is a global challenge, but disasters do not affect men and women equally. In most of the world’s disasters, more females are impacted than males, and in Afghanistan the disparity between female and male victims is even greater. This study identifies and maps the relationships between the factors that make Afghan rural women more vulnerable to natural hazard-induced disasters. Data for this study were obtained through focus group discussions with rural women and men, as well as person-to-person interviews with employees of government and nongovernmental organizations at the national and local levels in Afghanistan. The study uses Grounded Theory and Interpretive Structural Modeling, not widely used before for this type of study, to analyze the data collected and to map the factors of vulnerability identified and their relationships. In agreement with previous studies,our findings show that insufficient disaster education,inadequate protection measures, and powerful cultural issues, both pre-and post-disaster, increase women’s vulnerability during and after disasters. In particular, cultural issues play a role after disasters by affecting women’s security, access to disaster aid, and health care. The study also found that perception regarding these cultural issues and how they affect women during disasters differs among men and women. Finally, by using Interpretive Structural Modeling, we show how the importance of the factors and their interrelationships change in predisaster and post-disaster situations. We conclude the article with some policy recommendations such as finding ways to allow women to participate in disaster planning activities and decision-making processes related to disaster risk reduction, as well as securing dedicated funds for the mainstreaming of gender in disaster risk reduction policies in Afghanistan.

Relationships between Demographic Variables and Breast Self-Examination among Women in a Rural Community South East of Nigeria

This study examined the relationships between demographic variables of women in a rural community, South East of Nigeria and their practice of Breast Self-Examination (BSE). A descriptive survey design was adopted. The study population of 349 was drawn using system atichousehold sampling technique. Two research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. The instruments used for data collection were validated structured questionnaire which was interview administered. Demographic information of the women such was also obtained for the study. The result indicated significant correlation between respondents’ educational level and BSE. There was however no significance difference between age, parity and BSE. There was need for community health nurses to reinforce home visits in order to enhance the awareness of breast cancer and needed skill for BSE among the rural populace while liberal education irrespective of age should be instituted by the Government.