Gender Roles And Factors Surrounding Women's Participation In Basket Weaving in Brama Town, Sierra Leone.

Abstract

This study examines how women's involvement in basket weaving in the Brama Town community is formed by basic social, cultural, and economic factors. The study followed the convergence parallel mixed research method, which allows analysing qualitative and quantitative data separately. In line with this, eighty-three basket and non-basket weavers who participated in data collection were selected for this study. The participants include women weavers, men weavers, the community chief, and vendors of baskets. The selection of these respondents was based on their understanding and experience in basket weaving, as well as their availability during data collection. Data collection approaches such as face-to face interviews, focus group discussions, and questionnaires were used to collect data about women's participation in basket weaving. Concurrently, the analysis of data occurred in two different phases; the first phase of the analysis involved analysing quantitative responses into descriptive statistics such as charts and tables. The second phase involved identifying codes for the qualitative responses and developing codes into recurring themes. The findings highlight that although there is increased participation of women in basket weaving, they occupy dormant roles in major production, such as basket design. As such, women weavers occupy minor roles, such as transporting raw materials and selling finished goods. The results further revealed that cultural perceptions, lack of access to capacity development opportunities, and household responsibilities affect the active engagement of women in basket weaving. Overall, the participation of women in basket weaving cannot be effective in the presence of societal stereotypes.