How Do Cooperatives Enable Empowerment Among Rural Women? Evidence from the Municipality of Cavinti, Laguna

The persistent gender issues and their implications for sustainable development have led to several strategic yet collective schemes, such as the cooperatives, promising to contribute to (women) empowerment and social equality. Guided by Kabeer’s conceptual framework, this study analyzes the role of cooperative membership in promoting empowerment among its female coop-members in Cavinti, Laguna. Primary and secondary sources of data were used and analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The result indicates that cooperatives play a critical role in empowering women by providing new and/or improved knowledge and skills through capacity-building training necessary to make informed decisions, thus strengthening women’s roles in the decision-making process. Overall, this study contributes towards the development of a shared understanding of how cooperatives can be improved and utilized as an effective strategy for empowering women by taking equal importance on the needs and concerns of women in the cooperatives.