Adopting a combination of labour-saving mechanisms for increasing rural women’s participation in livelihood strategies in Busega district in Tanzania

Abstract

The paper aims at examining rural women’s adoption of a combination of labour-saving mechanisms such as improved water supplies and harvesting techniques, cooking facilities and means of transport for household chores with its implications in diversi- fying livelihood strategies in Busega District of Tanzania. The study adopted Diffusion of Innovations Theory to explain the importance of adopting labour-saving mecha- nisms to reduce rural women’s workload and save time for diversifying livelihood strat- egies. The study employed cross-sectional research design to collect data from 210 rural women. Household survey, interviews, focus group discussions and non-participant observations were used to collect primary data. Cross-tabulation, One-way ANOVA, five point Likert scale and multiple logistic regression were employed to analyse quan- titative data. Content analysis was employed to analyse qualitative data. The study revealed that, 61.43% of rural women were limited to adopt any kind of labour-saving

mechanisms. In addition, the multiple logistic regression revealed significant differ- ences at p-value of 0.05 for the likelihood of diversifying livelihood strategies. As such, rural women’s participation in livelihood strategies differed greatly based on the abil- ity to adopt labour-saving mechanisms for reducing the workload of household chores. The study recommends that development stakeholders should implement develop- ment programmes centred on increasing prospects of adopting a combination of labour-saving mechanisms for reducing the burden of household chores to save time for diversifying livelihood strategies.