COOPERATIVE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND AUTONOMIZATION OF RURAL WOMEN IN COTE D’IVOIRE

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the influence of cooperative entrepreneurship on the empowerment of women in rural areas. To this end, we have conducted an empirical survey with 200 female cooperative members in Côte d’Ivoire, successively identifying the factor structure of the variables studied (family, free, community, neighborhood and friendly groups) and then testing their reliability. Further tests were then performed using a linear regression model. The results show that the family, free and community group models positively and significantly influenced the empowerment of women. However, the neighborhood group had a negative influence, and the friendly group had no significant influence.