Scientific Research Journal (SCIRJ), Volume 2, Issue 1, January 2014 19 ISSN 2201-2796 www.scirj.org © 2014, Scientific Research Journal Role of female education for their economic empowerment in rural areas: A Case study of Jalalabad Union Parishad in Bangladesh Khosrul Alam Lecturer, Department of Economics & Poverty Studies, Noakhali Science & Technology University, Noakhali, Bangladesh. Contact: +8801730710587, E-mail: alam.khosrul@yahoo.com Abstract- This study focused to analysis of the role of education for female’s economic empowerment in rural areas in the context of rural development. In rural areas their empowerment has increased and has taken a significant place in different development programs. The objectives of this study are to examine effects of education on female’s empowerment and its impact on rural development and in the economic sphere. About 160 million people live in Bangladesh. More the 70% people live in rural areas. Among rural people half is female. The rate of the rural female illiteracy is around 46.3%. This rate is alarming because without their education rural development is impossible. Hence, educated female can perform a significant role in their family economy. They become employed in different types of work, enterprises, government and private sectors, in agriculture and receive good status and power due to financial benefits. Educated female enjoys more benefit than that of uneducated female. Instead of their traditional activities they can perform out of home activities for better earnings. There are many limitations existed for educating and empowering them. Despite these limitations, those who are educated and active reach a good level of satisfaction in their lives and contribute much to her family. IndexTerms—Economic Empowerment, Empowerment of female, Female Education, Union Parishad, Rural Economy. I. INTRODUCTION Female were deprived of their rights for many years. They did not get any rights from the society. They lead their lives in a prototype manner. As a result they were not aware of their rights to make the world resourceful. Keeping half of the population away from the main work stream no development can be possible. One of the main reasons for their lagging behind is lack of education. In rural areas the light of education on female has reached in late. As a result they did not play any decision making role and empowering them. In rural areas of Bangladesh the things were much more serious. Now the world is changing, female are becoming free agent and they are trying to emancipate. “The goal of gender planning is the emancipation of female from their and their achievement of equality, equity and empowerment” (Caroline 1993: 1). Now female are playing important role by their best effort and making good for the development of the economy. Education of rural female and empowering them in the economy is creating good sign for the world. “In every sphere of life they are creating significant marks to ahead the world economy. During the past century female’s role has been changed in the labour market and the family interest has decreased in important (Swedbery 2004: 281). In addition, intensive farming and animal husbandry were carried out in houses with the participation of female. Such characteristics of rural life can still be observed in rural agricultural communities (Wicramagamage 1992: 78). “……………..The success of the program has encouraging implications not just for female empowerment goals, but also for the other factors affected by empowerment, such as child welfare. By empowering female to have greater say in their households and communities and to engage in income-generating activities, the program may generate signicant benefits to the rest of the participant's household” (Eeshani Kandpal, Kathy Bailis & Marry-Arends Kuennigs- Empowering Female through Education and Influence: An Evaluation of the Indian Mahila Samakhya Program, Discussion Paper No. 6347, February 2012). “To achieve further success in implementing millennium development goals, Bangladesh has to pay more attention to improving female’s status, by encouraging female to marry later and providing more avenues of employment compared to what already exists in Bangladesh. Providing free female education alone cannot let the chair stand, it comprises of only one leg, the other legs need to be in place as well” (Nashid Kamal and Sareeta Haider: Role of education in building empowerment of female in Bangladesh). There are many limitations for educating female. In every sphere of people should come forward to educate female and ensure their economic empowerment for the sake of rural development. We will focus on the role of female education for their economic empowerment in rural areas from the case study of the people of Jalalabad Union Parishad. II. OBJECTIVES The objectives of the study are given below as-  Identify the present status of rural female  How rural female are contributing in society  Does education impact on them positively  Analyze the role of educated female in rural area  Limitations towards economic empowerment of them  Ways for female economic empowerment  Prospective measurements for ensuring their empowerment