Constraints on craftswomen in the villages of Iranshahr County

Handicraft products can may way for more income in rural areas. Given the importance of handicraft products in the livelihood of rural households in Iranshahr County, the aim of this study was to investigate the constraints the rural women experience in producing handicrafts in the villages of this county. This research was conducted in a descriptive and causal-comparative methods. To achieve the desired goals, in addition to document analysis and initial field visits, a wide range of indicators were introduced. Then, according to the research indicators, household questionnaires were prepared to collect the essential data on the households making handicrafts. The population of the study included all craftswomen active in the production of handicrafts living in villages with more than 50 households in Iranshahr County. As 9008 households live in these villages, using the Cochran's formula (with a margin of error equal to 0.05), 376 households as the sample size were calculated; the sample households were selected in a simple random sampling method in proportion to frequency of households living in the sample villages. The research questionnaires were completed by craftswomen or girls involved in handicraft production in the sample households. For data analysis, FAHP and GRA software and statistical tests in SPSS were used. Findings confirm that economic barriers with a mean of 3.24 are the most important constraints on the handicraft producers in the villages of Iranshahr County, as the severity of economic, social and institutional constraints were 74.2, 12.8 and 22.8, respectively among the households which ranked as severe or very severe. The results of GRA showed that the study villages have a completely different situation in severity of the constraints on craftswomen. According to the research results, it is suggested to establish and strengthen cooperatives and private companies to support the production and marketing of handicraft products and remove the constraints craftswomen face in the production of handicrafts.