Barriers to rural women's participation in extension activities in Tikrit district/salah Al-din governorate

Introduction

The agricultural sector, particularly in developing countries, is a primary focus for policymakers aiming to implement changes that foster its development and enhance production. This is due to its significant role in poverty reduction and food security. The urgency of improving this sector has grown in recent years in light of the numerous challenges it faces, including rapid population growth, climate change, and urban expansion into rural areas, which has led to the conversion of agricultural lands into residential zones. Additionally, the sector struggles with water resource scarcity and shifting demands for agricultural products in both global and local markets (Birner & Raabe, 2012) [11] . The issue of rural development occupies an important place among the priorities of social, political and economic action in various societies, and although there is a difference in the meaning of the concept of rural development from one time to another, and from one society to another, it is agreed that the main goal of rural development is to improve the quality of life of rural peo ple (Al-Ajmi and Abou El-Naga, 2018: 525) [4] . The development of the agricultural sector plays a vital role in ensuring food security, achieving economic diversification, alleviating global poverty and unemployment, balancing between food resources and population growth, and providing inputs for other industrial, productive and service sectors (Abdul Halim, 2022: 2) [5] . It is one of the main guidance and change tools for most development activities in the world, and it is a key pillar of the required change and an effective tool for it, as it is the main channel for transferring the results of agricultural research and modern technical methods into application and implementation in farmers' fields to improve and increase agricultural productivity (Khairi et al., 2015: 382) [1] . Rural women serve as the cornerstone and primary pillar upon which most rural families rely for economic development and income enhancement. They achieve this by engaging in agricultural activities associated with small rural enterprises, using their earnings to cover various household expenses. Moreover, whether paid or unpaid, women's labor plays a crucial role in reducing household poverty rates in most developing economies (Reihan, 2018:1) [3] . The significance of rural women in development stems from their diverse income-generating activities. In addition to their roles as wives and mothers responsible for raising and caring for their children, they actively participate in various agricultural tasks, food processing, dairy product www.extensionjournal.com manufacturing, livestock care and breeding, and farm product marketing. Thus, women play an influential role in society, contributing not only as productive individuals but also as key figures in family-building and social development. Their role in rural development is substantial, as they represent an essential and active productive force in rural communities (Abdel Aal, 2002:12) [5,6] . Women's work is not confined to their family-owned lands; many work as laborers on others' farms, particularly during planting and harvesting seasons. Consequently, their contributions to the agricultural sector are significant. However, their earnings are substantially lower than those of men due to limited access to resources and productive opportunities. Women's participation in the labor force varies significantly across regions, yet they are more likely to hold unpaid, seasonal, or part-time jobs. Data indicate that women frequently receive lower wages than men for performing the same tasks (Chanana-Nag, 2018) [12] . Rural women face significant challenges, including poverty, illiteracy, lack of legal rights, and restrictive social roles, all of which hinder their empowerment. Despite these barriers, they exhibit remarkable resilience, often through active participation in community development initiatives (Gyan, 2025) [17] . The gender gap in women's agricultural roles negatively impacts them in multiple ways, particularly in terms of earned income. Household income directly influences access to food and increases family earnings. Women's income plays a crucial role in ensuring household food security and improving children's nutrition (Devasahayam, 2020: 1-2) [14] . If this gap continues, the food security of families will be jeopardised and women must be able to maintain the nutritional status of their families (Cohen, 2020) [13] . Despite the prominent role that rural women play in economic and social life, there are many cultural, social and economic obstacles that limit them from fulfilling this role, in addition to the failure to identify a separate component for rural women in the priorities and objectives of development plans, and the insufficient number of women extension cadres in both production and marketing. In recent years, the gap between the incomes of individuals has widened, and the standard of living for women who relied on agriculture for their livelihoods has decreased. Extension programmes directed at rural women have not met their needs, and this may be due to many obstacles related to the extension system and its inability to deliver extension messages efficiently and in a timely manner. Rural women suffer from deprivation of many needs and deficiencies in many priorities.

The multiple roles of women as mothers, wives, food producers, and those responsible for preparing family meals have significantly increased their burdens. These responsibilities often come at the expense of the time needed to develop their skills in agriculture and incomegenerating activities (Al-Noor, 2014: 8-9) [8] . One of the most significant barriers to women's participation in the formal labor market is the persistence of traditional social conditions and beliefs. This is despite the necessity of their involvement in most agricultural activities, such as crop cultivation and maintenance, as well as livestock breeding and care. Additionally, women contribute to various non-agricultural activities, including the production and processing of dairy products, weaving, embroidery, and carpet-making.

Although rural women play a crucial role in society, several obstacles prevent them from participating in many extension activities designed to enhance their economic and social development. A major issue is their lack of awareness about their own potential, which limits their ability to adapt to advancements and engage effectively with their communities. This is evidenced by the customs and traditions prevailing in society, their economic, social and cultural dependence, and their low level of health status, which led to their helplessness in the face of these challenges and their indecision between submission and isolation on the one hand and confrontation on the other (Ministry of Planning, 2016) [9] . Some studies indicate that the main factors affecting women's ability to participate in agricultural extension activities are their inability to access resources, the existence of discriminatory gender norms, ignoring women's needs and interests, the traditional views of men as farmers, the lack of clarity of women farmers' work, and women's lack of capital. (Shibata et al., 2020: 1101-1125) [19] . Although rural women are actively involved in agricultural activities, their contribution is often seen as 'helping' their husbands, limiting their participation in decision-making and being recognised as farmers. (Gali`e, et al, 2022: 25-24) [15] . The weakness of extension programmes in the fields of home economics and essential food industries is due to some social customs, especially those related to allowing rural women to contribute to development programmes, which is known as socio-cultural barriers. In addition to the weakness or absence of social and developmental studies and research for the rural population, and the degree to which rural women absorb scientific and extension recommendations and their impact on the development of rural women and encourage them to settle and not migrate to cities and urban areas (Arab Organisation, 1998:83-84) [7] .

Hence, the importance of involving rural women in the planning and implementation of agricultural programs and projects becomes evident. Providing them with credit and marketing facilities, as well as enhancing the role of female agricultural extension services in rural areas-particularly those focused on income-generating activities and household economics-is crucial (Ministry of Agriculture, 2000: 4) [10] . Rural women require extension programs and activities to raise their awareness, particularly through a review of the extension activities conducted by the General Authority for Agricultural Extension and Cooperation (Jaradat, 2006) [18] . Based on this, the research problem is framed around answering the following research questions:  What are the barriers to rural women's participation in extension activities in the district of Tikrit / Salah al-Din Governorate in general?  What is the descending order of the fields and sections of the research?  Is there a statistically significant relationship between the barriers to rural women's participation in extension activities and the independent factors, namely (social status, type of family, landholding size, and attitude www.extensionjournal.com towards extension activities)? Objectives 1. To identify the barriers to rural women's participation in extension activities in the district of Tikrit / Salah al-Din Governorate in general. 2. To rank the fields and sections of the research in descending order. 3. To determine the correlation between the barriers to rural women's participation in extension activities and the independent factors, namely (social status, type of family, landholding size, and attitude towards extension activities).

Research population and sample

The research population included all rural women in Tikrit district who own agricultural contracts and work in them according to the records of the Tikrit Agriculture Division (451) women, and after excluding the exploratory sample of (30) respondents from the total research population, the research population became (421), from which a simple proportional random sample of (27%) respondents was selected, thus the number of respondents subjected to the research procedure (113), as shown in Table (1).

Preparation of the questionnaire

A questionnaire consisting of two sections was prepared. The first section included some personal factors of rural women such as (marital status, type of family, size of holding, and attitude towards extension activities) while the second section included (42) statements expressing the obstacles to the participation of rural women in Tikrit district (Salahuddin governorate) and alternatives (large, medium, small, none) distributed among the research areas as shown in Table (2).

Attitude Towards Extension Activities:

The scale consisted of 8 statements, with alternatives (Agree, Neutral, Disagree). Values were assigned as (3, 2, 1) for positive statements, and (1, 2, 3) for negative statements, respectively.

Measuring the dependent variable

Obstacles to rural women's participation in extension activities were measured through (42) paragraphs distributed among the research areas, each of which was given the alternatives (great, medium, few, none) and the values (3, 2, 1, 0) were given respectively.

Statistical methods

Many statistical methods and means were used, including range, mean, standard deviation, Pearson's law, Spearman's law, and t-test. It is clear from table (3) that 46.90% of the respondents fall in the high category, which is the highest percentage, followed by the medium category with 41.60%, so the magnitude of the barriers to participation in extension activities is described as high and tends to the medium, meaning that the magnitude of the barriers preventing rural women from participating in extension activities in Tikrit district in general is large and the reason may be that the social customs and traditions of rural families prevent them from mixing with men or the lack of government support for women or the lack of extension activities for small productive projects managed by rural women.

Results and Discussion

The second objective: Arrange the research areas and paragraphs in descending order.  The research areas were arranged in descending order by percentage weight and the result was as shown in Table (4). The first area: The obstacles specific to rural women The obstacles for rural women were arranged in descending order according to the arithmetic mean and the result was as in Table (5). It can be seen from Table (5) that the paragraph (lack of government support for women to carry out productive projects for women) ranked first with an average of (2.460), followed by the paragraph (lack of extension activities for small productive projects) ranked second and the reason may be the lack of government support for small projects that rural women can manage, while the paragraph (feeling that there is no social status for rural women) ranked last with an average of (1.805) and the reason may be that rural women in Tikrit district feel their role in participating in family decision-making.

Second area: Ranking the paragraphs of the social obstacles area in descending order

The paragraphs of the social constraints domain were arranged in descending order by arithmetic mean and the result was as shown in Table (6). www.extensionjournal.com Table (6) shows that (lack of organisations that support rural women) ranked first with a mean of (2.646), followed by (lack of awareness of the importance of the role of women in rural society) which ranked second with an arithmetic mean of (2.363), which may be due to the lack of conviction and confidence in the decisions and opinions of rural women. The reason may be the lack of organisations working in the research area to provide sufficient support for rural women to establish such projects, while (lack of conviction and confidence in the decisions and opinions of rural women) came last with an average of (1.920) The reason for this paragraph coming last may be the monotony of daily life in the practice of domestic and agricultural work, which does not need new decisions put forward by women, which may be the reason for the monotony of daily life in the practice of domestic and agricultural work.

Third area: Ranking the obstacles related to agricultural extension in descending order

The paragraphs of the field of obstacles related to agricultural extension were arranged in descending order according to the arithmetic mean and the result was as shown in Table (7). It can be seen from Table (7) that (Lack of implementation of extension activities in the village) ranked first with a mean of (2.301), followed by (Lack of interest of extension activities in marketing activities) ranked second with a mean of (2.274%), and the reason may be the lack of transport for female guides to help them reach the village or the lack of suitable places where the guide meets with rural women, while (The agricultural guide does not have sufficient experience and skill to deliver the extension message) came last. (1.637) ranked last with an average of (1.637), which may be due to the lack of contact between agricultural extension workers and rural women and the lack of receiving extension messages from them at all. Objective 3: To determine the correlation between the barriers to rural women's participation in extension activities and each of the independent factors:

Marital Status:

The respondents were distributed according to their marital status as shown in Table (8). It can be inferred from Table (8) that the highest percentage of respondents falls within the "married" category, which accounted for 61.06%, while the highest average obstacles were found in the "widow" category. To determine the correlation between social status and the level of obstacles faced by rural women, the Spearman correlation coefficient was used, and the correlation value was 0.30. To test the significance of this relationship, a t-test was conducted, and the result showed that the relationship is significant at the 0.01 level. Based on this, the null hypothesis, which states that "there is no significant correlation between the participation of rural women in extension activities in Tikrit district/Salah al-Din governorate and their social status," is rejected. This result may be due to the fact that widowed and divorced women bear the responsibility of supporting the family and meeting its needs, which leads them to face numerous challenges, making them less concerned with extension activities. This result aligns with the findings of a study by Raghab et al. (2017: 1485-1503) [2] .

Family type:

The respondents were distributed according to family type as shown in Table (9). It is clear from table (9) that the highest percentage of respondents are in the simple category (63.72%), while the highest average number of obstacles in the category of complex families (92.74), and to find the correlation between the type of family and the size of the obstacles facing rural women, Spearman's correlation coefficient was used and the value of the correlation coefficient was (0.13), and to test the significance of the relationship, the t test was used and it was found to be insignificant. Thus, we accept the statistical hypothesis that states (there is no significant correlation between rural women's participation in extension activities in Tikrit district / Salah al-Din governorate and family type).

The size of the holding:

The results showed that the size of the respondents' holdings ranged from (20 to 150) dunums, and they were distributed according to the extent into three categories as shown in Table (10). It can be seen from Table (10) that the highest percentage of the respondents falls under the "Low" category, with a percentage of (63.72%), while the highest mean for obstacles was found in the "High" category, which is (97.38). To find the correlation between landholding size and the obstacles faced by rural women, the Spearman's correlation coefficient was used, and the correlation value was found to be (0.29). To test the significance of the relationship, the t-test was applied, and it was found to be significant at the (0.01) level. Thus, we accept the null hypothesis which states that there is no significant correlation between rural women's participation in extension activities in the district of Tikrit, Salah al-Din, and landholding size. This may be due to the fact that landholding is of great importance to rural women. As the size of the landholding increases, the amount of time spent on agricultural work also increases, leaving the woman with less time to participate in extension activities. This is necessary for proper land management and achieving higher productivity.

Attitude towards Extension Activities: The results

showed that the attitude of the respondents towards extension activities ranged between (10 -22). The respondents were categorized into three groups based on this range, as shown in Table (11). It can be seen from table (11) that the highest percentage of respondents are in the positive category (46.02%), while the highest average of obstacles was in the negative category (93.90). To find the correlation between the attitude towards extension activities and the magnitude of obstacles facing rural women, Spearman's correlation coefficient was used and the value of the correlation coefficient was (0. (24), and to test the significance of the relationship, the (t) test was used and it was found to be significant at (0.01), thus rejecting the statistical hypothesis that states (there is no significant correlation between the participation of rural women in extension activities in Tikrit district / Salah al-Din governorate and the attitude towards extension activities) This may be because rural women who have a positive attitude towards participating in activities are keen to attend those activities regardless of the circumstances.

Conclusion

1. The results showed that the magnitude of the obstacles faced by rural women in the research area is high and tends to average, we conclude that there are many obstacles faced by them in all studied areas. 2. The results showed that the phrase (lack of governmental support for women to carry out productive projects for women) ranked first in the field of obstacles for rural women, inferring the lack of resources that rural women need to carry out some industrial or agricultural work. 3. The results showed that the phrase (weak community www.extensionjournal.com interest in training women compared to men) ranked first in the field of obstacles related to social obstacles, we conclude that there is a need to sensitise the rural community on the importance of training rural women to enable them to manage their own projects. 4. The results showed that the phrase (not implementing extension activities in the village where the woman lives) ranked first in the field of obstacles related to agricultural extension, we conclude that it is difficult for rural women to reach the places of implementation of extension activities outside the village, which does not allow them to benefit from these activities. 5. The results showed that there is a significant correlation between the obstacles to rural women's participation in extension activities and most of the studied factors, concluding that these factors are important and should be taken into account to overcome the obstacles facing rural women who do not participate in extension activities.

Recommendations

1. The Directorate of Agriculture of Salah al-Din Governorate and relevant departments should work on finding solutions to the obstacles faced by rural women in the study area. 2. Increase governmental support for rural women to engage in productive projects, represented by the Agricultural Bank and the Agricultural Equipment Company, to support rural women and activate their role in society, enabling their economic independence. 3. Focus on training rural women and avoid limiting extension activities to men. This can be achieved by appointing female agricultural extension agents in agricultural departments to enable rural women to communicate with them, train them in the villages where rural women reside, and conduct field or home visits. 4. Consider the factors that have shown a significant correlation with obstacles to rural women's participation in extension activities when planning development programs for rural women. 5. Allocate marketing outlets for the home-based industries produced by rural women to ensure their sale and help them obtain fair prices for their products.

References

1. Khairy M, Shaheen EA, Hassan SAM. Efficiency and effectiveness of the agricultural extension system in Monufia Governorate (a case study). J Econ Soc Sci. 2015;6(3).
2. Rajab HA, Shalabi IM, El-Khouli H, Abdelrahman S. Determinants of rural women's participation in productive activities in Sharkia Governorate. Zagazig J Agric Res. 2017;44(4).
3. Rihan JI. Rural women's participation in agricultural and non-agricultural activities and the factors affecting them: A case study in Manshat Dahshour, Badrashin Center, Giza Governorate, Egypt. J Soc Econ Sci. 2018;9(1).
4. Al-Ajmi MF, Abu El-Naga MA. The role of agricultural research stations in developing rural communities. J Agric Econ Soc Sci. 2018;27.
5. Abdel Halim MF Ismail. Rural women's participation in some agricultural productive activities in Assiut Governorate. Agric Ext J. 2022;26(4).
6. Abdel Aal MH. Rural women's need for appropriate technical and technological information for agricultural and domestic activities. Sixth Conference of the Agricultural Extension Association, Rural Women Development. 2002.
7. Arab Organization for Agricultural Development. The role of agricultural cooperatives in achieving sustainable rural development. Khartoum; 1998.
8. Al-Nour MA. The obstacles facing rural women in achieving development. College of Agriculture, Omdurman Islamic University. 2014.
9. Ministry of Planning -Central Statistical Organization. The reality of rural women in Iraq. Human Development Statistics Department. 2016.
10. Ministry of Agriculture. The situation of rural women and gender issues. Sixth National Report, Article 14, Yemen. 2000.
11. Birner R, Sekher M, Raabe K. Reforming the public administration for food security and agricultural development: insights from an empirical study in Karnataka. IFPRI Discussion Paper 01175. Washington D.C: International Food Policy Research Institute; 2012.
12. Chanana-nag N. Women in agriculture and climate risks: hotspots for development. In: Climate Change: Gender Responsive Climate Smart Agriculture: Framework, Approaches and Technologies. Springer; 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-018-2233-z.
13. Cohen MJ. Gender inequality and food insecurity: A dozen years after the food price crisis, rural women still bear the brunt of poverty and hunger. Elsevier Inc; 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.af2s.2020.09.001.
14. Devasahayam TW. Chapter 1: Key issues in gender and food security. In: Ensuring a Square Meal: Women and Food Security in Southeast Asia. World Scientific; 2020.
15. Galié A, Najjar D, Petesch P, Badstue LR, Farnworth CR. Livestock innovations, social norms, and women's empowerment in the global south. Sustainability. 2022;14(7):3741. https://www.mdpi.com/20711050/14/7/3741.
16. Geels FW. The multi-level perspective on sustainability transitions: responses to seven criticisms. Environ Innov Soc Transit. 2011;1.
17. Gyan C. Building resiliency in community development: the experiences of women in rural communities in Ghana. School of Social Work, McGill University, Canada; 2025;13.
18. Jaradat AA. Agriculture in Iraq: Food, Agriculture, Environment. Vol.2, Danielastehlik: Australia, women unite, report. 2006.
19. Shibata R, Cardey S, Dorward P. Gendered intrahousehold decision-making dynamics in agricultural innovation processes: assets, norms, and bargaining power. J Int Dev. 2020;32.