Rural women

Purpose- Rural women are the carriers of traditional culture and art of Iranian ethnicities inherited naturally and mainly through generations. Iranian rich and native culture can creatively be presented and protected; this can lead the unemployment to be erased, especially in rural areas, while at the same time rural businesses can thrive by promoting the potential of rural entrepreneurial women. Design/Methodology/Approach- This was a descriptive-analytic study aiming to describe the primary and secondary factors involved in the marketing mix of Iranian local art businesses using a consent-based Likert scale questionnaire developed by Mobaraki et al. (2016). A total of 28 local art entrepreneurs responded to the questionnaire in Tehran and across Iran. The five primary components called 5C including the "networking and communications", "content of local artwork", "creativity", "cultural value" and "artwork creator" and 32 related items were evaluated. Findings- The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed with the Cronbach's alpha of 0.94. Data were analyzed by comparing the means of variables using the Friedman test. The most influential subset in the marketing mix of local art businesses was related to the category of the artwork content, composition and harmony. And the impact of other elements was also determined by considering their impact factors through mean comparison using the Friedman test. Research Limitations & Implications- There were plenty of shortcomings observed in the theoretical foundations of marketing the artworks and traditional arts, while the number of women active in manufacturing marketing traditional arts and participating in the relevant research processes was very limited. Practical Implications- Relying on the findings of this research and the model presented for the entrepreneurial marketing mix of traditional rural women's arts as well as training, we can expand business establishments active in marketing and also enhance the selling artworks and traditional arts. Originality/value- The results of this research can be applied in marketing the traditional artworks of Iranian rural women.

Purpose - Women as half of the human resources in rural areas play an important role in entrepreneurship development in rural communities. The reinforcement of rural women entrepreneurship is an effective approach for two development indices, that is., increasing employment and reducing unemployment. So, given the significance of the sustainability of small and medium-sized businesses of women in the rural economy and rural development, it is important to identify the factors influencing the sustainability of the entrepreneurship process among them. In this respect, this study aimed to explore the factors affecting the sustainability of the business of the entrepreneur women who were members of rural microcredit funds in Mazandaran province. Design/Methodology/Approach- The research was a descriptive one. The statistical population was composed of 776 entrepreneur women who were members of 26 rural microcredit funds in Mazandaran province, out of whom 260 women were sampled based on Krejcie and Morgan’s table. The main research instrument was a self-constructed questionnaire whose face and content validity were confirmed by a panel of experts. Also, average variance extracted (AVE) and composite reliability (CR) supported the convergent validity and the reliability of the instrument, respectively. Data were analyzed by structural equation modeling using the partial least squares technique in the Smart PLS3 software package. Finding- Based on the results, the sustainable businesses of rural women who are members of rural microcredit funds were positively and significantly affected by the infrastructure, educational-skill, policymaking, economic, and environmental-geographical factors (with coefficients of 0.412, 0.219, 0.175, 0.165, and 0.137, respectively) at the 99% confidence level and by personality and attitude (0.183 and 0.162, respectively) at the 95% confidence level. These factors captured 92.3 percent of the variance in sustainable businesses. Research Limitations- The dispersion of microcredit funds across the counties and the difficulty of identifying entrepreneurs in them, which would constitute the statistical population, were the main limitations and challenges of the research. Practical Implication: The most important approaches to developing sustainable businesses among rural women include identifying motivated entrepreneur women, providing adequate facilities, raw materials, and inputs, creating job opportunities for small home jobs in villages to motivate women businesses, promoting communication between rural women and successful entrepreneurs, arranging visits of successful businesses, holding short-term applied skill development courses, and creating proper conditions for the use of the Internet and cyberspace for marketing their products. Originality/Value- Based on the results, various factors significantly influence sustainable businesses of women who are members of rural microcredit funds. Therefore, organizations and officials can contribute to the development of women’s businesses in rural areas through supporting the women by material and spiritual motivations, encouraging them, and reinforcing their commitment and responsibility.

Today, the tourism industry is of great interest in the world in a sustainable development strategy. In developing countries with an extremely high rural population, such as Iran, ecotourism is considered as a potential for economic growth. Rural women, as a group with multi-functional roles in the rural household economy, can be considered the leading players in the development of ecotourism. This; the article is prepared as a review. To; find related documents, 12,400 articles were found using Google Scholar and the keywords "Ecotourism" and "entrepreneurship." Then, by adding the word "rural women," the number of articles decreased to 384. Then the title and abstract of the articles were examined and those related to this research were selected. Moreover, finally, the studies and investigations conducted to answer the following three questions: What is Ecotourism? Is there a connection between ecotourism and empowerment? Can Ecotourism play a role in empowering rural women? Finally, some recommendations have been presented based on the findings.

Women entrepreneurs use virtual social networks in their professional relationships. These relationships with higher quality leads to better performance in their businesses. The present study aimed to analyze the effects of virtual social networks on improving rural women’s entrepreneurship. The statistical population of the study included all members of the Agricultural Development Specialized Holding Companies in Fars province in Iran. The study was conducted using survey and stratified random sampling methods with 269 individuals participated via questionnaires. The results indicated that virtual social networks had a favorable effect on rural women’s businesses. There was a significant difference between women in the different studied counties regarding the effects of virtual social networks on business. In addition, a significant difference was observed between women in various groups regarding the effect of virtual social networks on business. In addition, greater effect of virtual social networks on women’s businesses led to higher business resilience among the women entrepreneur and their businesses, which resulted in increasing the women’s information about business activities and their entrepreneurial activities in their businesses. Further, more use of social networks by the women led to more use of marketing methods and strategies. Therefore, it is suggested that Agricultural Development Specialized Holding Companies use the functions of virtual social networks in order to information transfer, networking and online training for members when necessary. Also provide the necessary training in the application of appropriate marketing methods and strategies to rural women entrepreneurs using these networks.

Purpose- The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze the obstacles of developing tourism entrepreneurship among rural women in Oraman District of Sarvabad County, considered as one of the important poles of rural tourism in the country.Design/Method/Approach- This study is applied in terms of purpose; descriptive-analytical in terms of method, and mixed in terms of data gathering as a combination of two methods namely documentary (library) and survey based on observation, interview and questionnaire. The statistical population of this research includes rural women of Oraman District, and key informative and experts in rural development. The sample size was 97 samples among rural women occupying in the field of rural tourism in Oraman District and 50 ones of key informative and experts in rural development selected by snowball sampling method.Findings- The data analysis employing inferential statistics (chi-square, one-sample t-test and correlation) showed that, legal obstacles and weakness in policy making and planning with a mean score of 4.96, weakness in tourism infrastructure, services and facilities with a mean score of 4.53 and social and cultural obstacles with a mean score of 4.48 have higher priority, respectively whereas financial obstacles have the lowest calculated mean score (3.78) among the studied indicators. Also, the results of the correlation test revealed that rural women with a better and more favorable situation in terms of personality and background, i.e. with a higher education level and occupying in the field of rural tourism and more purposeful in life, have more tendency to enter the field of rural tourism and entrepreneurship. In addition, there is a negative relationship between the desirability of personality and background variables with the effect of identified obstacles on women entrepreneurship, which means that the better the personality and background variables are, the less the effect of the identified obstacles on women's entry into the field of tourism and entrepreneurship and innovation.Practical implications- The government as well as government institutions responsible for development in the area should first improve the tourism development environment in the studied rural areas and provide the conditions for the development of rural tourism in the area and prevent the region from moving towards stagnation in tourism, and then in the next stage entering more women into the field of tourism, make an attempt to direct them towards entrepreneurial activities.Original/value- There are many obstacles in front of rural women in the direction of turning to entrepreneurial activities in the field of rural tourism. Obviating these obstacles, firstly, requires identifying them and then applicable planning pertinent to each obstacle.