assessing different aspects and barriers of self-employment among agricultural female students (case study: zanjan university)

the main purpose of this research was to study different aspects of self-employment among the agricultural female students in university of zanjan. the statistical population of the study consisted of senior female students in agriculture faculty of zanjan university in 2014-2015 academic year (n= 135). according to cochran's formula, 63 students were selected using a stratified random sampling method. the research tool was a questionnaire. validity of the instrument was confirmed by a panel of faculty members and experts of the field. the reliability was determined by pilot test and calculating cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.71-0.88). the results of this study showed that the most important priority for employment was cooperative work, self-employment and recruitment. the most important motivation for self-employment was greater prosperity, freedom and flexibility to work and use all the knowledge, skills and their ideas. most students tend to agricultural employment in the service section. the self-employment requirements included: need of financial capital, benefiting from specialized training and experience in the field to set up business on one’s own way. using exploratory factor analysis, barriers to female students self-employment in agriculture were summarized into seven factors including: supporting law and gender barriers, agricultural risks and weaknesses in communication skills, physical weakness and knowledge, attitude and security, tendency to indolence and failure to taking risk in employment, lack of technical and management skills and lack of facilities. these factors explained 74.34% of barriers to female students' self-employment in agriculture.