Economics of Women Involvement in Pineapple Production in Moulvibazar District, Bangladesh: Household Income and Decision Making Perspective

Abstract

Aims: The research was aimed to assess the economic involvement of female workers in pineapple production and their perception of household income and decision-making perspective in some selected areas of Moulvibazar district, Bangladesh. Study Design: This article is about determining the female workers contribution to household income and is placed on empirical analysis. It estimated the income and decision-making power of female pineapple workers at the household level. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in the Sreemangal Upazila of Moulvibazar district of Bangladesh including three villages i.e. Mohajirabad, Doulochora, and Radhanagar as the female participation in pineapple work is comparatively high. The study period was the production period of pineapple from June to September 2020. Methodology: In this study, simple random sampling was used to choose 200 respondents. Face-to-face interviews with pineapple female workers generated primary data, which was obtained using structured questionnaires. The socio-economic profile of the sampled respondent was determined using descriptive methods. To estimate the female workers contribution to family income and their perception of household decision-making, the Income-Expenditure model and 5-point Likert Scale were applied. Results: The outcome of the research appeared that most of the respondents were belonging to middle age group which is considered an active working group and the average age of the sample respondents was approximately 40 years while the average family size was 6.37. The findings of the study showed that 82.50% were married and 56.50% had no formal education and almost 80.50% of sample respondents were only engaged in pineapple production. The sources of annual family income indicating that 35.76% of income came from female members of the households in which 26.64% where came from only the pineapple sector and the average annual contribution of female pineapple workers in household income was Tk. 23,373.00. Conclusion: It has been concluded that in the study area female workers had a significant role in the participation of household income and also the perception of female workers was largely accepted in the case of household expenditure, buying and selling of family wealth, education of children, saving money, and receiving medical treatment.