Assessment of Women's Empowerment in Aquaculture Cooperatives, Evidence from Masvingo Rural District, Zimbabwe

B.Sc. Paula Raviro Gapa, BSc

Master's thesis

Abstract:

For decades the issue of women empowerment has been a key issue. Women have been fighting for gender equality in all spheres of empowerment since Millennium Development Goals era and now it’s being addressed by Sustainable Development Goals. All Sustainable Development Goals are centered on the achievement of Goal 5 which aims in reaching gender equality by 2030.They contribute to agriculture and rural enterprises as a result it is a necessity to empower them socially, economically and politically. The study aimed in assessing and evaluating the role of aquaculture cooperatives in women empowerment in Masvingo rural district in Zimbabwe. Aquaculture cooperatives were introduced by a local organization called Aquaculture Zimbabwe with an aim of creating sustainable rural livelihoods due to high rate of rural poverty in the area. Kabeer, Women Empowerment Framework was used with emphasis on agency, decision making and achievements. The study engaged 7 aquaculture cooperatives and 233 respondents were interviewed. The respondents were purposively selected using random sampling and most of the respondents were women. The data analysis methods used were descriptive statistics and logistic regression model. The results obtained showed that decision making, aquaculture training and aquaculture as a livelihood has a significance in empowering women in the aquaculture cooperatives. Full potential contribution of aquaculture is unappreciated and ignored by most agricultural and rural development professionals and policy makers, yet it has the potential to empower women. There is need for Governments, private sector and public stakeholders to recognize the contribution of small-scale fisheries.

Keywords

Women empowerment, Aquaculture, Rural Poverty, Gender

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 22. 4. 2022

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Ing. Jana Mazancová, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme:
International Development and Agricultural Economics