An Overview of Women Participation in Cooperative Movement- A Case Study of Women Dairy Cooperative Societies of Punjab

The present study is conducted to have an overview of women participation in cooperative movement through Women Dairy Cooperative Societies (WDCS) in Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Ludhiana districts of Punjab. For the study, response of 120 women WDCS members (40 members from each district) was taken and analysed. Data was collected with the help of structured questionnaire comprising of different type of questions regarding their participation and level of involvement in the societies. The result of the study reveals that women societies constitute only 19.67% of total societies in the three district and 21.57% at state federation level. Only 0.83% members had ever attended any training programme whereas 11.67% are unaware about it. The result shows that only 22.5% members attended the meetings held at the society level. It has been reported in the current study that members of Hoshiarpur district have no medicine and veterinary services provided by the union. In case of women socio-economic empowerment through decision making or control of finances at household level, the scenario is challenging. Only 33.3% have their personal bank accounts and 37.5% have freedom in expenditure. The results of the research suggest that though progressive steps are taken by the Milkfed, yet for optimum participation of women in cooperatives require more serious efforts through productive meetings and training programmes.