investigation of empowerment levels and rate among members of the women’s rural association (a case study of the tafihan women’s association, shiraz county)

the empowerment of women has been widely acknowledged as an important goal in international development. the main aim of this study was to investigate empowerment levels and rate among the members of tafihan rural women’s association.those who were subject to research consisted of all members of the tafihan women’s association (418 members), out of which, a total number of 200 members were selected through a stratified random sampling method. the data was obtained through means of a questionnaire. face validity of the questionnaire was obtained through an experts’ panel, and reliability was acquired through pilot testing. the cronbach's alpha was .94. results revealed that empowerment dimensions of the association members can be categorized in four sectors: psychological, familial, economic and socio-cultural dimensions. results also showed that psychological and socio-cultural dimensions ranked highest, and were followed by familial and economic dimensions.