The Influence of Men's Attitudes towards the Formation of Rural Women Independent Groups: A Case Study of East Azarbaijan Province of Iran

One of the approaches emphasized by participation paradigm is women participation in activities and their active presence in development process. But implementation of such programmes, that is, targeting women without convincing the men and consideration of their situation and their consensus, may not lead to successful results necessarily. Men’s opinion and attitude towards women responsibilities and roles are very important criteria for women's social presence. Therefore, achieving an overall development calls for a change in attitudes, policies related to gender relations and structural reorganization. A field study about the influential factors that affected the success of facilitators in the formation of women independent groups was carried out through a questionnaire and direct interview to investigate the impact of men’s attitudes towards the formation of such groups. The validity and reliability of questionnaire were estimated by Cronbach's alpha which was equal to 0.88. The results of research showed that among the factors under study these have direct impacts on the formation and continuity of independent rural women groups: men’s attitudes towards women's role in life, men's consensus with women participation in meetings, and men’s opinion about appropriate grounds for women activities.