Feasibility Study of Women’s Cooperative-Based Employment of Worn-out Texture of Rasht with an emphasis on the Creative City of Gastronomy

In underdeveloped countries, women are the first hope for family development and the growth and development of their society. But despite the benefits of women's participation in achieving sustainable development, the statistics of labor force in Iran show that gender inequality leads to the marginal position of women in the labor market. As a half of the population in cities and, of course, in urban worn-out areas, women suffer from intertwined physical, social, and economic problems. One of these strategies is the formation and development of cooperatives for women's employment in these neighborhoods. Cooperatives can greatly solve unemployment problems, increase job opportunities and reduce unemployment. In this regard, the purpose of this research is to provide a platform for creativity with the approach of cooperatives in worn-out textures. These cooperatives provide employment opportunities for women in worn-out areas, so that in the creative city of Rasht, women can take advantage of this opportunity and become empowered.

This study is an applied research in terms of purpose and a quantitative one in aspects of the nature of data. The data of the research have been collected through field studies including questionnaires, interviews, interviews and observations and through library resources in the form of articles and books. The studied statistical population in this study is the number of women living in worn-out texture of Rasht. In order to determine the sample size, multi-stage cluster sampling and Morgan method were used, which 384 questionnaires among women of 4 regions of worn-out textures were allocated and distributed according to the population in each region, and finally 379 questionnaires that were fully answered were analyzed. Cronbach's alpha was used to ensure the reliability of the questionnaire, which was 0.852, that is greater than 0.7 and is acceptable. In order to analyze the information and data, SPSS software and binomial and Friedman tests were used.

In general, the binomial test showed that 99% of the respondents, including 375 women, are willing to work in the food cooperatives of Rasht, which seems to be a very good amount. But the general results of social and family conditions based on the binomial test show that 74%, equivalent to 277 women, have family and social conditions for working in the food cooperative sector of Rasht. Also, in general, 20% of women have the economic conditions to work in the food cooperative sector of Rasht. But the total economic, social and family conditions indicate that 27% of women, equivalent to 101 people, have working conditions in the food cooperative sector of Rasht. Finally, from the conducted studies, 67 women have the opportunity to work in the food cooperatives of Rasht. That is, these people first of all have the necessary desire, and then they have the essential social and family conditions, as well as economic conditions, and finally the possibility of working on them is available. The study of the distribution of these people in the four studied areas of Rasht shows that 44.8%, equivalent to 30 people, 41.8%, equivalent to 28 people, 10.4%, equivalent to 7 people and 3%, equivalent to 2 people are living in District 2, 3, 1, and 4, respectively.

According to statistical analyzes and descriptions in previous seasons, women living in four worn-out areas of Rasht are considered as the statistical population. To achieve the objectives of the research and answer the questions, women living in this area were divided into three levels as women's willingness to work in the Rasht food sector, family-social and economic conditions of women to work in the Rasht food sector and finally the possibility of women working in the sector Food cooperatives. Also, women living in four areas of worn-out texture in the direction of the research, were tested by non-parametric statistical tests such as binomial test and Friedman test. The results of the analysis showed that 99% of women have a high desire to work in the food sector. The average desire of women in these areas was equal to 3.84 (Likert scale). Therefore, it can be concluded from the desire section that there is no problem in the field of women's education and most of them want to work in food cooperatives in Rasht. But in the discussion of family-social and economic conditions, the results indicate that although 74% of women have the necessary social and family conditions to work, only 20% have the necessary economic conditions to work in cooperatives. The main economic problem of women for activity is not having enough income, which makes women unable to provide the minimum amount necessary for activity. Many of them also did not meet the conditions for obtaining a loan from a bank or receiving assistance from a family. Therefore, in order to increase the number of people who are willing but do not have suitable economic conditions, it is necessary to look for an interested investor in the field of food, so that cooperative activities can be started or developed by using of investor capital and women's workforce and expertise. Therefore, the creative city of Rasht can combine the idea of women's employment in the form of food cooperatives to expand cultural industries, flourishing women's culinary arts and entrepreneurship in the field of nutrition and food, branding local food to introduce to the world and develop food tourism and share knowledge and research. Science related to food and nutrition has taken a big step from the stages of preparation to the stages of production, consumption, distribution and even in the form of export.