GENDER AND DECISION MAKING PROCESS IN LIVESTOCK MANAGEMENT

Gender participation in livestock management is as old as mankind. In rural areas women’s participation rate in agricultural and livestock management activities is high as compared to men. They get up early in the morning and continuously work till night. A rural woman in Punjab works almost 15 hours a day, spending about 5- 6 hours in caring for livestock. They are responsible for 60 to 80% of the feeding and milking of cattle. They remain busy in activities like: cutting fodder, cleaning sheds, milking dairy animals, processing animal products and looking after the health of the herd. The present study was conducted to determine the role of rural women in decision-making in livestock management in district Jhung in 2009. A sample of 120 female respondents was selected randomly from tehsil Jhang through multistage random sampling technique. They were interviewed through a reliable and validated interview schedule. The data collected, were processed through a computer software i.e. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The results show that Age, male dominance and traditional belief system were the main factors, which had effected the involvement of rural women in decision-making process. Traditional belief system, misinterpretation of religious teachings and cultural norms also had great influence on the women’s involvement in decision-making process.