Purpose-Women's participation in decision-making processes is a prerequisite for achieving sustainable development in local communities. However, despite the importance and necessity of involving all members of society in various aspects of development, unfortunately, due to various reasons (economic, social, cultural, and institutional), insufficient attention has been given to this matter. Consequently, the role of women's participation in rural development is significantly weak. Therefore, one crucial aspect of rural development planning is to focus on the participation of rural women and examine the obstacles they face.Design/methodology/approach -This research is descriptive-analytical in terms of its practical purpose and methodology. The data collection tools consisted of questionnaires and interviews conducted with a sample of 378 women from the villages of Lasht Nesha district in Rasht city. Descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis were used to analyze the data.Findings-The test results revealed that five categories of factors constitute the primary obstacles to rural women's participation in the villages of Lesht-nesha district. These categories include: the status of social capital, education, health, and social characteristics, explaining a variance value of 17.32% motivation, self-awareness, and cognitive characteristics, explaining a variance value of 16.83% financial and economic status and characteristics, explaining a variance of 12.43% beliefs, community customs, and cultural characteristics, explaining 8.86% of the variance; and justice, gender equality, and institutional-political characteristics, explaining 8.55% of the total variance.Originality/value - Overall, the results indicate that the barriers related to the social capital status, education, health, and social characteristics are more relevant to the participation of rural women.
