Agri Co-operatives as tools for Women's Empowerment, case study in Georgia

Bc. Caroline Christopher Beach

Master's thesis

Abstract:

The topic of women’s empowerment through participation in agricultural cooperatives has been studied intensely in recent years, and NGOs and governments alike have created committees, set goals, and had calls to action to address this issue on national and international scales. Although the effectiveness of these policy frameworks have been scrutinized, they provide a general research basis which organizations and legislative bodies can use to plan programs to aid in women’s empowerment. Georgia provides researchers with an opportunity to test the effectiveness of cooperatives as a source of women’s empowerment due to its long heritage in agriculture, patriarchal culture, and recent changes in government. The desire to focus on women’s empowerment and gender equality stems from hard data that shows women have less access to the tools for empowerment than men in the countries mentioned in this study, namely in Sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asia. Similar trends between gender relations and access to resources are found in Georgia, and the lack of current literature in the Caucasus region warrants further study.

Keywords

Women's Empowerment, Agricultural Cooperatives, Georgia and the Caucasus Region, Gender Relations

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 22. 4. 2023

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 30. 5. 2023
• Supervisor: Ing. Jana Mazancová, Ph.D.
• Reader: Oto Potluka, Ing., externi

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences

Master programme:
International Development and Agricultural Economics