Author: Deborah Andrew Ngusa, PhD (University of Dodoma, Tanzania)
Abstract: The paper addressed occupations as socio-economic qualities that determine rural women’s capabilities to install and use electric stoves in their households. The study applied the cross-sectional design through conducting a household survey. The study sample size included 210 rural women and seventeen key informants. Qualitative data was analysed through content analysis while the quantitative data was analysed by computing descriptive statistics, cross tabulation and chi-square test. The study established that majority of rural women were interested in installing electricity and using electric cookers in their households. However, households without electricity lacked income for paying the required charges to get services. Men controlled installation and usage of electric cookers in households as they were the main bread winners while women lacked income to meet the required charges. As a result, rural women were negatively affected by the burden of firewood collection and cooking that led into deforestation in the area. The study recommends that sensitization on the installation and use of electric cookers should be done to rural women to increase their awareness on the benefits of adopting them. In addition, development stakeholders should support rural women by increasing their capacity for conducting income generation activities to get higher profits.