ABSTRACT
Rural Women’s Cooperatives (RCW) represent an emerging institutional pathway towards financial autonomy for women and a component of a marginalized agricultural sector. In Lebanon, a rural cooperative is defined as ‘an autonomous association of ten persons with a capital that is not limited; it is non-profit, and its aim is to improve the socio-economic conditions of its members through joining their efforts’ according to the general principles of cooperation: Legislative Decree 17199 dated 18 August 1964. 3 Originally, rural cooperatives were organized by a government decree in 1941 and overseen by the Directorate of Cooperatives under the Ministry of Agriculture. Today, in a less-than-optimal arrangement, oversight is distributed among several ministries including the Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture.
