The Role of Women's Cooperatives in Members Empowerment: A Case Study of Success

Women's cooperatives are social environments, which help women work out of their houses and participate actively in social activities. They could empower women in various dimensions such as social, economic, cultural and psychological. To investigate the role of Women's cooperatives in the empowerment of members, both qualitative and quantitative procedures were employed in this study. Questionnaire was utilized to collect data for quantitative section, and Photovoice was employed in qualitative section. Research population consisted of 400 members of Tafihan Women cooperative in Fars province. Results revealed that the cooperative empowered its members in economic, social, psychological and familial aspects. The empowerment levels in psychological and economic aspects were higher than empowerment levels in other aspects. Since the members of this cooperative were from two villages, the needs of both of the villages should be considered. A directing board composed of the people from both villages could be helpful in this regard.

Cooperative, Women's cooperatives, Empowerment, Empowerment of Women, Photovoice.