Women's Participation in the Management of Dairy Cooperatives.

Participation of women in management of dairy cooperatives has become a key principle of the development process. This paper aimed to document the status of women's participation in Chepkorio dairy cooperative in Kenya, identify factors influencing their participation and suggest strategies to enhance women's participation in the management of dairy cooperatives. The study used the descriptive survey design. Both primary and secondary data were used to collect the data necessary to establish the status of women's participation. The results showed that women were grossly underrepresented in the management of Chepkorio dairy cooperative society. There were no women in the supervisory committee and only one woman was in the dairy board committee. Unfavorable election standards and practices, low self esteem among other factors hindered women from participating. Some of the strategies suggested to enhance women' s participation included affirmative action, intensive sensitization and training to name just a few.