Presenting an Empowerment Model for Iranian Family-Heading Women Supported by Imam Khomeini Relief Committee

The present study aimed to provide a model of empowerment for the family-heading women in Imam Khomeini Relief Committee. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach. The research population in the qualitative section included all female-headed households, Relief Committees across the country, and managers and specialists, from among whom 115 family-heading women, 27 managers, and 10 specialists were selected and interviewed through purposive sampling. In the quantitative section, 1500 women and 193 managers were selected using Cochran's sampling formula. To collect data, interviews and questionnaires were used. The results of the qualitative section showed that the empowerment model for family-heading females included problems (individual, familial, social, and economic), solutions (individual, familial, social, and economic empowerment), and strategies (direct and indirect organizational, and extra-organizational (including inter-organizational, legal, and social)). The fit of the model in the quantitative phase was assessed using LISREL software. Structural equation modeling also confirmed these dimensions and showed that the model had a relatively good fit with the data. Thus, it can be concluded that the model for the empowerment of women both takes into account the problems of this group and provides appropriate solutions and strategies to empower them in practice.