viewpoints of rural women on effect of social capital components on their empowerment (case study: hassan- khan village, ghorveh township)

regarding the undeniable role of women in the process of rural development on the one hand and their inappropriate situation in terms of the most indices of rural development on the other hands, rural women’s empowerment is essential. meanwhile, many researchers and scholars believe that social capital and its components play a key role. thus, the main purpose of this descriptive- correlative research was to study of the viewpoints of rural women on effect of social capital components on their empowerment in hassan- khan village in ghorveh township.the statistical population of the research consisted of all women in hassan- khan village ranged from 15 to 64 years old (n= 213). according to the krejcie and morgan table, a sample size of 165 was selected using random sampling technique. the questionnaire were used to collect data. the content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by a panel of experts. the construct validity and the composite reliability of the research instrument were tested by estimating the measurement model and they were satisfied after making necessary corrections. the results showed that the main hypotheses of the research have verified and three components of social capital including social cohesion, participation and trust had a positive and significant effect on dependent variable. the components totally explained about 43 percent of variances of women's empowerment in hassan- khan village. based on the findings, it can be concluded that increasing social capital of rural women directly results in their empowerment.