The Effect of Social Capital in Improving The Capacity of Rural Women As

This study aimed to see the role of social capital at both the micro level and the meso level in overcoming the problem of the weakness of women's rural capacity of the emping melinjo cottage industry in Banten Province. The study was conducted in Banten Province, with a sample of 453 people consisting of 154 people in the industrial zone, 147 people in the agricultural zone and 152 people in the tourism zone. The analysis method used in this study was the statistical invertia namely Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results of the analysis showed that social capital at both the micro level and the meso level played a role in improving the capacity of rural women in cottage industry. The social capital of meso levelwas influenced by the existence of environmental support, especially the availability of infrastructure, the socio-economic environment and the support of the family environment, while in microlevel, social capital was influenced by individual characteristics, especially the level of formal education, but less supported by the family characteristics, especially the formal education level of the head of the family. Micro-social capital that played a role primarily is the proactive action, obligations and beliefs of rural women of cottage industry emping melinjo. While the meso-social capital plays a role in capacity building especially concerning aspects of social norm and trust