Factors affecting rural women's willingness to join agricultural cooperatives in the central district of Tokat province

Women farmers living in rural areas play an important role in every stage of agricultural production, as well as motherhood and housework. In this study, the factors affecting the participation of women farmers living in rural areas in cooperatives, which are considered necessary for the empowerment of women in rural areas and seen as a method of struggle to solve women's social and economic needs, were investigated. The aim of the research is to see the level of willingness of women farmers living in rural areas to become partners in cooperatives, to determine the factors affecting women's willingness to become partners in cooperatives, and to reveal the level of awareness of women about cooperatives. In order to obtain the necessary data in the research, a face-to-face survey was conducted with 210 farmer women living in 21 villages in the Central District of Tokat Province. It was determined that 55.24% of producer women in the research region wanted to become partners in cooperatives. 60.95% of women think that their families will not support their participation in the cooperative. In addition, as a result of multiple linear regression analysis to determine the factors affecting women's willingness to join the cooperative, it was determined that women's willingness to become a member of the cooperative had 0.984 units even if the independent variables were zero. According to the results of the analysis, there is a positive relationship between women's desire to become members of cooperatives and the number of children, the amount of land owned by the family, women's active participation in cooperatives, and women's ability to lead the establishment of cooperatives. It has been observed that there is a negative relationship between Directorates, Television and Neighbours, and government incentives, which are among the main things that need to be done for the development of women's cooperatives. It is necessary to organize trips and visits to cooperatives in the nearby areas in order to promote cooperatives to women who do not have cooperatives in the region they live in, and to increase the content of agricultural programs broadcast on TV so that women have more information about cooperatives.