Women’s Participation in Income Generating Activities and its Effect on Household Dietary Diversity in Wolaita Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Abstract

Abstract Despite the existence of evidences on women’s income generating activities (IGAs) as a key way to promote their socioeconomic empowerment and gender equality that in turn has linkage to food and nutrition security, women in rural Ethiopia yet face exclusion based on the socio cultural norms of patriarchy that deprives their access and better participation in various economic activities. Therefore, we focused on factors affecting women’s participation in IGAs and its effect on household dietary diversity (HDD). Data for the study were collected from 356 women and their household dietary diversity score was constructed using 24-hour recall period. Mixed method approach, the descriptive and inferential statistics for the quantitative data and thematic content analysis for the qualitative data were used for analysis. Thus, from the totalsurveyed women, 38.4 % was engaged in their own IGAs (less participation). The result of descriptive and inferential statistics and qualitative analyses suggest that formal education, business training, business experience, initial capital, cooperative membership, cultivable land and livestock sizes positively affect women participation in IGAs whereas, distance from nearest market negatively affects their participation. Further analyses indicate that women participation in IGAs plays a significant role on increasing HDD.