Lack of Time the fact that women had to work, either inside or outside of the home (2) Feelings of Inferiority as they relate to social and community norms (3) Financial Concerns relating to the formal group participation requirements, (4) Gender Norms of the women in relation to their husbands, both inside and outside of the home, and (5) Community Perceptions relating to their relationships with their husbands/partners.
Lack of Time. During the Community Ten Seed Activity, of the women who responded to the question, “Is the main reason why you, or other women, do not participate, is because you don’t have time”, a majority of the women said yes (13/21). In response to this question, when asked why, they stated that both work and activity time is hard to manage at the same time. Overall, one of the most challenging aspects of the women’s daily lives that prevented them from being able to attend social support meetings was the lack of time they had in their schedules. Even though the meetings generally met once a month (‘Together’ and ‘Glass of Milk’) or ever two weeks (Mother’s Clubs and Community Assemblies) and some more involved groups on a weekly basis, the mothers still found it challenging to set aside the time to leave their homes. Many of the women take of cultivating land, ‘la chacra’ that is near their homes and/or care for their animals and house gardens. In the case the women were bound to their homes because they were mainly homemakers they had to take care of house chores as well as take care of their children. During the Community Ten Seed Activities, when asked if it is “easy to attend meetings” a majority (11/21) of the women said, no, and their common response was “we have children and animals to take care of”. For those women and families who cultivated vegetables for part of their household income, selling food at the markets on the weekend took away from the time they were able to attend social support groups, which in some cases, took place on the weekends during market hours. Although many of the women who regularly participated in the social support groups were considered “doers,” lack of time was generally their largest complaint. Results from the Interview Survey with a Non-Doer:
Lack of Time. 8.1 Many people feel too busy to take time out to reflect and learn. Part-time employees, shift workers and casual and temporary workers may have particular difficulty in getting time for training as they are likely to have family, caring or other commitments on their time.
