Women's Empowerment
Women's Empowerment
Women's empowerment (or female empowerment) is the process
of empowering women. It may be defined in several ways,
including accepting women's viewpoints or making an effort to seek them,
raising the status of women through education, awareness, literacy, and
training. Women's empowerment
equips and allows women to make life-determining decisions through the
different problems in society. They may have the opportunity to
redefine gender roles or other
such roles, which in turn may allow them more freedom to pursue desired goals.
Women's empowerment has become a significant topic of discussion
in development and economics. Economic
empowerment allows women to control and
benefit from resources, assets,
and income. It also aids the ability
to manage risk and improve women's
well-being. It can result in approaches to support trivialized genders in a particular political or social
context. While often interchangeably used, the more comprehensive concept
of gender empowerment concerns
people of any gender, stressing the distinction between biological and gender as a role. Women empowerment helps in boosting the status of women
through literacy, education, training and awareness creation. Furthermore,
women's empowerment refers to women's ability to make strategic life choices
which had been previously denied them.
Nations, businesses, communities and groups may benefit from the
implementation of programs and policies that adopt the notion of female
empowerment. Empowerment of women enhances the quality and the quantity of
human resources available for development. Empowerment is one of the main
procedural concerns when addressing human
rights and development.
Definitions and methods
There are several principles defining women's empowerment such
as, for one to be empowered, they must come from a position of disempowerment.
They must acquire empowerment themselves rather than have it given to them by
an external party. Other studies have found that empowerment definitions entail
people having the capability to make important decisions in their lives while
also being able to act on them. Empowerment and disempowerment are relative to
the other at a previous time; as such, empowerment is a process rather than a
product.
Scholars have identified two forms of empowerment, economic
empowerment and political empowerment. Rahman et al. said that empowering
women "puts a strong emphasis on participation in political structures and
formal decision-making and, in the economic sphere, on the ability to obtain an
income that enables participation in economic decision-making."
Economic empowerment
Since the 1980s, the push for neoliberalism prioritizes
competitiveness and self-reliance as a measurement for economic
success. The individuals and their identifying communities that do not
meet society's favored neoliberal standards are looked down upon and are prone
to lower their own self esteem. Some groups who do not fit the preferable
neoliberal image are the lower working class and the unemployed.
Specifically, neoliberalism has negatively impacted women's
self-worth through its welfare reform policies. Mary Corcoran et al. theorize
that conservative welfare reformers believe in welfare dependency as the cause
of poverty. This leads welfare reformers to widen the criteria for an
individual to qualify as a welfare recipient, limiting the number of people
dependent on welfare. These criteria include: work requirements and time
limits, rapidly pushing women into the labor market. The active push for
women to enter the labor market reinforces the notion that single mothers and
unpaid care laborers are unproductive to the American economy. In
consequence, women are forced to settle for low-paying unstable jobs while
having to manage their maternal and domestic responsibilities. Scholars
believe welfare reform's underlying purpose is to disempower women by
suppressing women's agency and economic independence. By creating
opportunities for women empowerment like job training, women can counteract the
social implications of neoliberalism and specifically welfare reform.
In addition, policy makers are suggested to support job training
to aid in entrance in the formal markets. One recommendation is to provide
more formal education opportunities for women that would allow for higher
bargaining power in the home. They would have more access to higher wages
outside the home; and as a result, make it easier for women to get a job in the
market.
Women's empowerment and achieving gender equality helps society
ensure the sustainable
development of
a country. Many world leaders and scholars have argued that sustainable
development is impossible without gender equality and women's
empowerment. Sustainable development accepts environmental protection,
social and economic development, including women's empowerment. In the context
of women and development, empowerment must include more choices for women to
make on their own.
Strengthening women's access to property inheritance and land
rights is another method used to economically empower women. This would allow
them better means of asset accumulation, capital, and bargaining power needed to
address gender inequalities. Often, women in
developing and underdeveloped countries are legally restricted from their land
on the sole basis of gender. Having a right to their land gives women a
sort of bargaining power that they would not normally have; they gain more
opportunities for economic independence and formal financial institutions.
Race has an integral impact on women's empowerment in areas such
as employment. Employment can help create empowerment for women. Many scholars
suggest that when we discuss women's empowerment, discussing the different
barriers that underprivileged women face, which makes it more difficult for
them to obtain empowerment in society, is important when examining the impact
of race in connection to employment. Significantly examining how opportunities
are structured by gender, race, and class can transpire social change. Work
opportunities and the work environment can create empowerment for women.
Empowerment in the workplace can positively affect job satisfaction and
performance, having equality in the workplace can greatly increase the sense of
empowerment.
In the case women have the opportunity to settle for stable
jobs, Women of color encounter a lack
of equal accessibility and privileges in work settings. They are faced with
more disadvantages in the work place. Patricia Parker argues that African American women's
empowerment is their resistance to control, standing up for themselves and not
conforming to societal norms and expectations. In connection to power, feminist
perspectives look at empowerment as a form of resistance within systems of
unequal power relations. Within the societal setting of race, gender, and class
politics, African American women's empowerment in the work environment
"can be seen as resistance to attempts to fix meanings of appropriate
identity and behavior, where such meanings are interpreted as controlling,
exploitative, and other- wise oppressive to African American
women." When talking about women's empowerment, many scholars suggest
examining the social injustices on women in everyday organizational life that
are influenced by race, class, and gender.
Another methodology for women's economic empowerment also
includes microcredit. Microfinance
institutions aim to empower women in their community by giving them access to
loans that have low interest rates without the requirement of
collateral. More specifically, they(microfinance institutions) aim to give
microcredit to women who want to be entrepreneurs. The success and
efficiency of microcredit and microloans is controversial and constantly
debated. Some critiques claim that microcredit alone doesn't guarantee
women have control over the way the loan is used. Microfinance institutions
don't address cultural barriers that allow men to still control household
finances; as a result, microcredit may simply be transferred to the husband.
Microcredit doesn't relieve women of household obligations, and even if women
have credit, they don't have the time to be as active in the market as men.
Political empowerment
Political empowerment supports creating policies that would best
support gender equality and agency for women in both the public and private
spheres. Methods that have been suggested are to create affirmative action
policies that have a quota for the number of women in policy making and
parliament positions. As of 2017, the global average of women who hold
lower and single house parliament positions is 23.6 percent. Further
recommendations have been to increase women's rights to vote,
voice opinions, and the ability to run for office with a fair chance of being
elected. Because women are typically associated with child care and
domestic responsibilities in the home, they have less time dedicated to
entering the labour market and running their business. Policies that increase
their bargaining power in the
household would include policies that account for cases of divorce, policies
for better welfare for women, and policies that give women control over
resources (such as property rights). However, participation is not limited
to the realm of politics. It can include participation in the household, in schools, and the ability to make choices for
oneself. Some theorists believe that bargaining power and agency in the
household must be achieved before one can move onto broader political
participation.
Digital
skills enhance political empowerment
Digital skills can facilitate women’s engagement with
local government and increase their decision-making power in their
communities. The Women-gov project in Brazil and India, for instance,
has helped women improve their understanding of and communication with local government via ICTs. In Brazil,
the project trained female community leaders to access and utilize online data
on government health services to
better respond to public health concerns
in their communities. In India, the
project worked with women’s collectives to establish women-run,
internet-connected community information centres to facilitate applications for
government assistance (including welfare and
entitlements), which in turn improved linkages between the collectives, local
authorities and public institutions.
Women with digital skills are better able to make their voices
heard on local issues and influence the outcome of decisions that affect
themselves and their communities. Digital skills can also empower women to
participate in political movements. For instance, the anonymity of ICTs may
allow some women to avoid limitations on freedom of speech in repressive societies, while collective
mobilization through online networks can enable women to campaign on
gender-based issues. Studies show an Iraqi women’s group used a multimedia campaign, including
an online component, to successfully lobby the Kurdish regional government
to outlaw the practice of female
genital mutilation. Images taken on mobile
phones and distributed via social
media have called attention to domestic
violence in China and influenced media treatment of court cases on
forced abortion.
Cultural Empowerment
As a progressive society, standing for women's rights and
empowerment, we must stop viewing culture only as a barrier and an obstacle to
women's rights. Culture is an integral and huge part of diversity
and a medium that seeks to ensure women's equal opportunities. It
recognises their freedom to take pride in their values, whether they are
orthodox or modern in nature. This is not to say that centuries of abuse
clothed in the spirit of culture should be allowed to continue, let alone be
celebrated. Undoubtedly, traditions cloaked in the idea of empowerment should
be objected to in light of feminism. For example, some research indicates that
women only have an equal chance to have their written work published in
peer-reviewed journals if the sex of the author is absolutely unknown to the
reviewers. This is a result of historical habitual culture which has lead
to lack of representation of women in literary and therefore, strongly
demonstrated why all cultural legacies cannot and should not be celebrated or
encouraged.
There is a need for equal cultural rights for women to be
acknowledged and implemented which would in turn help to reconstruct gender in
ways that would rise above women's inferiority and subordination. Furthermore,
this would significantly improve the conditions for the full and equal
enjoyment of their human rights on the whole as argued by the UN expert in the
field of cultural rights, Farida Shaheed.
Shaheed continues to add that the perspective and contributions
of women must transcend from the margins of cultural life to the centre of the
process that creates and shapes cultures around the globe today “Women
must be recognized as, and supported to be, equal spokespersons vested with the
authority to determine which of the community’s traditions are to be respected,
protected and transmitted to future generations.”
Feminist approaches to women
empowerment
Feminism is defined by the movement’s goal of creating women’s
empowerment. Two methods feminists use to facilitate a sense of women
empowerment are consciousness-raising and building relationships with the women
participants and their external oppressors.
Raising consciousness
To create women empowerment, feminists commonly use
consciousness raising. When raising consciousness, women not only become
knowledgeable about their personal struggles but how it is related to political
and economical issues. Raising consciousness allows marginalized
individuals to see where they are placed in the larger social structure and
pinpoint the root of their oppression. Awareness of their problems will
initiate self-mobilization which precisely creates empowerment.
However, scholars Shane Brady and Mary O'Connor have pointed out
the term “raising-consciousness” may be misunderstood and offensive to
participants. Using the term “raising-consciousness” inflicts the notion
that the marginalized community is not aware of their oppression and how to
deal with it.
Building relationships
In addition, feminists, specifically feminist organizers, focus
on building relationships as a medium for creating women empowerment. Scholars
claim that building relationships results in empowerment because the increasing
presence of power gaps in society are due to the lack of relationships that are
needed to bridge them. When it comes to forming and maintaining
relationships, there needs to be a balance of both collaboration and conflict
between the two parties. Conflict commonly arises in situations where
community members attempt to build relationships with external power figures
like government representatives. Fostering a space for collaboration as
well as deliberation of conflicting ideas is important because sorting out
disagreements allows for the formation of trust between the
parties. In addition, conflict individually benefits the women
participants because it fosters problem-solving skills and opens them to a
new pool of knowledge and perspectives on society. Scholars observe that
building relationships has a depoliticizing tendency as the activity does not
directly challenge the oppressive structures affecting women. A specific
observation of this depoliticizing tendency is story telling. When building
relationships, feminists encourage women participants to share their personal
experiences involving gender oppression, rather than deliberate about
strategies to approach the oppressive system.
Measurements and assessment
Women empowerment can be measured through the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), which calculates women's participation in a
given nation, both politically and economically. GEM is calculated by tracking
"the share of seats in parliament held
by women; of female legislators, senior officials and managers; and of female
profession and technical workers; and the gender disparity in earned income, reflecting economic
independence". It ranks countries given this information.
Some critiques of GEM is that it is not concerned with factors
regarding society, such as gender, religion, cultural context, legal context,
and violations of women's rights. Gender empowerment measure attempts to
make a consistent standardized approach to measure women's empowerment; in
doing so, it has been critiqued that the GEM doesn't account for variation in
historical factors, female autonomy, gender segregation, and women's right to
vote.
Other measures that calculate women's participation and relative
equality include the Gender
Parity Index (GPI) or the Gender-related
Development Index (GDI). The GDI is a way
in which the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) measures the
inequality between genders within a country. Some critique of this measurement
is that, because GDI calculations rely solely on the achievement distribution
between males and females of a population, GDI does not measure gender
inequality; instead it measures absolute levels on income, education, and
health.
A more qualitative form of assessing women's empowerment is to
identify constraints to action. This allows for the identification of power
relations between genders. Because this is a participatory process, it
facilitates conversation on gender discrimination. Comparing constraints
on women at a later time also allows for any changes or expansion to be better
identified. The evaluation of the development of women's agency allows for an
evaluation of actions taken. These assessments must also be based on the action
taken by women, and not external groups. External groups can help facilitate
women's empowerment, but cannot bestow it on them.
Barriers
Many of the barriers to women's empowerment and equity are the
result of cultural
norms. While many women are aware issues posed by
gender inequality, others have become accustomed to it. Many men in power
are hesitant to disrupt societal norms that are unfair to women.
Research shows that the increasing access to the Internet can
also result in an increased exploitation of women. Releasing personal
information on websites has put some women's personal safety at risk. In 2010,
Working to Halt Online Abuse stated that 73% of women were victimized through
such sites. Types of victimization include cyber stalking,
harassment, online pornography, flaming, and especially sexual harassment in
the workplace. It occurs most frequently in
business, trade, banking and finance, sales and marketing, hospitality, civil
service, and education, lecturing and teaching. According to the International
Labour Organisation (ILO), sexual harassment is a clear form of gender
discrimination based on sex, a manifestation of unequal power relations between
men and women. The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is urging for increased measures of
protection for women against sexual harassment and violence in the workplace.
54% (272) had experienced some form of workplace sexual harassment. 79% of the
victims are women; 21% were men.
Studies show that women face more barriers in the workplace than
men. Gender-related barriers involve sexual harassment, unfair hiring
practices, career progression, and unequal pay where women are paid less than
men are for performing the same job. When taking the median earnings of
men and women who worked full-time, year-round, government data from 2014
showed that women made $0.79 for every dollar a man earned. The average
earnings for working mothers came out to even less—$0.71 for every dollar a
father made, according to 2014 study conducted by the National Partnership for
Women and Children. While much of the public discussion of the wage gap has
focused around women getting equal pay for the same work as their male peers,
many women struggle with what is called the "pregnancy penalty". This
occurrence is difficult to measure, but the possibility of having a baby can be
enough for employers to disrupt women's pay. Women are put in a position
where they need to make the decision of whether to maintain in the workforce or
have children, which has led to the debate over maternity leave in
the United States and many other countries in
the world.
In March 2016, tech career website Dice released a study of more
than 16,000 tech professionals that found that when equivalent education,
experience and position are compared, there is no pay gap and there has not
been one for the last six years.
Role of education
People engage in public debate and make demands on government
for health care, social security and other entitlements. In particular,
education empowers women to make choices that improve their children's health,
their well-being, and chances of acquiring survival skills. Education
informs others of preventing and containing a disease. Such education empowers
women to make choices that can improve their welfare, including marrying beyond
childhood and having fewer children. Education can increase women's awareness
of their rights, boost their self-esteem, and provide them the opportunity to
assert their rights.
Education is not universally available and gender inequalities
persist. A major concern in many countries is not only the limited numbers of
girls going to school, but also the number of educational pathways for those
that step into the classroom. There are efforts to address the lower
participation and learning achievement of girls in science, technology, engineering and mathematics
(STEM) education.
In some parts of the world, girls and women are attacked for
attending school, and societal efforts to stop this may be lacking.
Internet use
The Internet is often a source of empowerment for women through
its creation, dispersion, and utilization of hashtags on social media.
Growing Internet access in the late 20th century provided women with various
tools to empower themselves. Women began to use social networking sites such
as Facebook and Twitter for online activism. Through online activism, they are able to empower
themselves by organizing campaigns and voicing their opinions for equality
rights.
Blogging emerged as one tool for educational female
empowerment. According to a study done by the University of California, Los
Angeles, medical patients who read and write about their disease are often in a
much happier mood and more knowledgeable than those who do not. By reading
others' experiences, patients can better educate themselves and apply
strategies that their fellow bloggers suggest.
With the easy accessibility and affordability of e-learning (electronic
learning), women can study from the comfort of their homes. They learn
skills that help them advance in their careers.
Examples of online activism having an impact include a 2013
online campaign which led to Facebook taking down various pages that spread
hatred about women. The campaign was started by 100 female advocates. In
2017, when the #AintNoCinderella hashtag emerged, it went viral after
Varnika Kundu (a 29-year-old woman in India) was driving home past midnight on
August 4 when she was followed and harassed by two men in a SUV. Kundu was
blamed for being out late at night, especially by the BJP government
Vice-President Ramveer Bhatti. This led to women across India and other parts
of the world to share pictures of themselves out late at night with the hashtag
"#AintNoCinderella" to show that women do not have a particular
curfew they must follow.
Ongoing projects
The UN came out with a set of goals called the Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs) to help make the world a better place. Of the
17th, the fourth goal works to allow access to education for all people. A large
effort has been made to include women in schools to better their
education. The fifth goal focuses on empowering women and girls to achieve
gender equality through equal access to various types of opportunities (health
care, education, work, etc.).
U.S. involvement
Domestically, the U.S. empowered women through passings of laws
such as allowing women to vote in 1920, banning discrimination based on gender
in 1964, banning discrimination against pregnant women in 1978, etc. The
inclusion of women in politics allowed for more gender equality. The first
female speaker of House, the First Lady to run for president, and first women
to serve on the Supreme Court were monumental events that provided insight into
the developing social acceptance of women in power.
The U.S. provides foreign aid to third world countries in
various forms, one of which is by providing education programs. There are bills
in Congress that work to ensure education to girls. One is the Protecting
Girls' Access to Education Act. These bills are enacted with the belief that
proper education will pull girls out of poverty and reduce exploitation of
them.
Another action taken on by the U.S is the PEPFAR program,
initiated by the Bush administration in 2003. The U.S. spent more than $1.4 billion
in funding sub-Saharan Africa during the duration of the program. This program
was taken into effect in response to the global HIV/AIDS crisis, and it promoted abstinence among young
girls and women. There was a partnership with DREAMS, and its main purpose
with PEPFAR was to allow both girls and women to develop into Determined,
Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, and Safe women. There are
criticisms that this program did not do much to reduce HIV-risk behavior, and
critics such as John Dietrich expressed concern that the context of aid
enforced Western beliefs of choosing abstinence before marriage.
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