Role of food tourism development in Women's empowerment (case study: Marivan city)

Introduction

The development of industry in a region can be significant for change, and in regions with limited industrial development, it is usually seen as a means of economic empowerment. However, in any destination, you may have positive and negative environmental, social and cultural effects as well (Kim & Park & Zhou, 2020). Eating is a need as well as a cultural and social activity. When a tourist eats in a place, the goal is not only to satisfy hunger, but also to experience the local culture and environment with the community (Sengel, Karagots et al., 2015). Trying to try different foods can be one of the main or secondary motivations for people to travel (Ockmes, Ockmes, & MacRicher et al., 2008). In recent years, food tourism has received a lot of attention due to the economic benefits of the community and the region. Food tourists are looking for food as an important motivation in consuming food, with its experience giving the customer an unforgettable. positive tourism experiences improve the decision to try local cuisine and revisit, and a memorable culinary experience is formed after consuming the food (Hong, Zhuang, & Quan, 2019).

Considering the development of food tourism in recent years in Kurdistan province, especially Marivan city, and the presence of women in this field, we have taken steps and started studies in order to measure the impact of this development on the empowerment of women in the city.

Methodology

The present research is a type of descriptive-analytical study that was conducted in the field method, and this research is practical in terms of its purpose, because the information obtained will be usable in the sectors related to food tourism and women's empowerment. By reviewing the research literature on the topic of the research as well as the studies conducted, due to the novelty of the research, there is no suitable questionnaire that can assess the role of tourism development in empowering women; In this way, a questionnaire was designed in this field, which has the necessary validity and reliability, and according to the opinion of tourism professors, the questions were acceptable. Also, the reliability of the questionnaire was measured using Cronbach's alpha and composite reliability, and Cronbach's alpha coefficients and composite reliability coefficients for all factors were more than It was more than 0.7, which confirmed the reliability of the questionnaire. Finally, there was a questionnaire with 41 questions on a five-point Likert scale: very high, high, medium, low and very low, which were assigned a score of 0, 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. The statistical population is considered to be women working in the tourism sector and women who were mostly in contact with these working people, which according to the statistics of the cultural heritage department of the city, an approximate number of 1000 people was considered, and based on the Cochran formula with an error level 5%, 277 people were estimated. In the meantime, 240 valid and reliable questionnaires were collected and used to extract information from them.



Results

The criteria for checking the structural model, the R2 coefficients are related to the dependent endogenous variables of the model and indicate the impact of an exogenous variable on an endogenous variable, and three values of 0.19, 0.33 and 0.67 are used as criteria values for weak values. are considered medium and strong. The higher the R2 of the endogenous constructs of a model, the better the fit of the model. According to the research model, this value is 0.377 for women's economic empowerment, 0.331 for women's social and cultural empowerment, and 0.328 for psychological empowerment, and these numbers represent the average fit for the structural model. The evaluation of research hypotheses is also done by examining the paths of the structural model. In such a way that each path represents one of the assumptions. In the paths where the significance coefficient outside the absolute value range of 1.64, 1.96 and 2.58 is reported, its significance is confirmed at the confidence level of 90, 95 and 99%.

Assumptions evaluation table

Direction path coefficient β Significance coefficient t The result of assumptions

women's economic empowerment 0.614 14.027 confirmation

social-cultural empowerment of women 0.575 11.716 confirmation

psychological empowerment of women 0.572 11.894 confirmation



Conclusion

The growth of tourism and the presence of women are linked to each other in a chain, so the growth of food tourism in Marivan requires proper planning and policies by the relevant authorities. Logical planning will attract tourists to this city and increase the demand for services, including food services as an important part of the trip, which will stimulate women with the ability to enter the labor market so that they can work alongside the other half of society, namely Men get to work. Therefore, the majority of women are responsible for the organization and activities of the home and family, and their success in performing these tasks will depend on their success in education, participation in economic and socio-cultural and even political activities. Women can easily work in the food tourism sector in addition to home activities, and there is a higher potential for women in this sector of the tourism industry.

By working outside the home, women have been able to widen their interactions and communication, and the more the tourism development in the region, the more women's socio-cultural ability will grow. With the development of tourism in the region, women have gained a sense of usefulness and pride in having the ability to be present in society and the work environment, and this has motivated them to be more present in the market, as a result of these abilities, women have more opportunities to socialize. have found in society.