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The purpose of this empirical study was to identify the participation of women in livestock management practices and to explore factors determining their engagement in district Swabi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. A multi-stage sampling approach was adopted to choose a random sample of 110 women farmers from the union council of village Shewa, and a well-structured questionnaire was designed to accumulate the primary dataset from rural women through face to face interviews. A women's participation index was designed to compute the degree of women's involvement, and a multiple linear regression model was proposed to measure factors influencing women's participation in livestock management practices. The computed value of the mean composite index was 4.81 which showed that women farmers on average engaged for 4.81 hours per day in the livestock management practices. The multiple regression results illustrated that women's education, family size, and livestock income significantly affect women's participation; however, women's age and herd size insignificantly affect women's inclusion in the livestock farming operations. The findings of this study recommend that the importance of rural women's involvement in the livestock sector should be identified in federal and provincial government plans and agricultural policy formulations. The study also recommends that the provision of agriculture credit facilities and livestock training facilities to women farmers could stimulate their involvement in livestock practices and anticipates the decision-making power in livestock management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women are the prime contributors of agriculture sector including livestock across the developing world including Pakistan. However, their extent of participation (time allocation) and constraints in livestock management have not been properly explored yet. To fill in the gap, the present research study was carried out to determine women's participation in the types of livestock rearing, their livestock possession, participation in livestock activities, and the major faced constraints in livestock management in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of the country. For this, a sample size of 117 women respondents was selected through multistage sampling technique and data were collected from the selected respondents using a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire through face to face interview. The collected data were subjected to analysis using descriptive statistics, frequencies, percentages, and rank orders. The results revealed that women were involved in buffalo, cattle, goats and sheep rearing with higher possession of small ruminants (goats and sheep), while men were found dominant in large ruminants' possession (buffalo and cattle). Women's higher time allocation to livestock management activities depicted their higher level of participation in livestock management was found high as compared to their male counterparts. Women's participation was found high in the indoor activities of livestock management like feeding, shed cleaning, and milking of animal's women's participation was found high, while recorded low in the outdoor activities of fodder cutting and marketing of dairy products due to their restricted mobility. Costly veterinary services and feed items, credit need for feed and livestock purchase, and training in animal health care were the major reported constraints in livestock management. Provision of credit, training in animal health care, and increasing women's livestock possession are suggested not only for the increased participation of women in livestock management but also for the development of domesticated livestock enterprise in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]