Functional Adult Literacy Programme has a central role to play in boosting
the social, economical and political development of the country in general and
the beneficiaries in particular. It is apparent that the government of Ethiopia
makes tremendous efforts to reduce the rate of illiteracy and enhance new
skills to improve standard of living for adult learners through Functional
Adult Literacy programme in the country. Nevertheless, studies and reports show
that literacy rate and participation of women in Functional Adult Literacy
Programme across location are insignificant in magnitude. Therefore, the aim of
the present study was designed to identify factors affecting women’s
participation in functional adult literacy related to socio-demographic and
organizational factors at Bahir Dar Zuria Woreda, North West Ethiopia. Quantitative
research approach with descriptive survey research design was employed. About 184
registered women were selected from 3 rural kebeles of Literacy Centers through
simple random sampling with lottery techniques by taking their names from the
total number of registered women. Descriptive statistics, univariate and
multiple binary logistic regression analyses were used to determine the effect
of factors on the outcome variable and to control possible confounders.
Statistical tests were done at 0.05 level of significance. The study revealed
that 65 (35.3%) and 119 (64.7%) of respondents were participant and
non-participant women in Functional Adult Literacy Centers respectively.
Results on multiple logistic regression provided that married women (AOR =
0.135 [95% CI: 0.024 - 0.758]) and divorced women (AOR = 0.054 [95% CI: 0.006 -
0.529]) both relative to widowed women; high work load (AOR = 3.326 [95% CI:
1.261 - 8.768]) relative to low work load; and class schedule conflict (AOR =
8.009 [95% CI: 3.190 - 20.11]) relative to no class schedule conflict have
significant association. Local government body in collaboration with Adult
Education Bureau is recommended to provide massive awareness creation about
gender equality for adult learners and the local communities.
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