Power through: A new concept in the empowerment discourse
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The document discusses the concept of 'power through' in the context of empowerment, emphasizing that individual empowerment is often influenced by the empowerment of significant others, particularly within gender dynamics. It highlights that empowerment is assessed by community judgment and is impacted by individual characteristics aligning with socially accepted gender roles. Key messages include the importance of understanding gender norms and the limitations of empowering men as a sole strategy for women's empowerment.
Power through: A new concept in the empowerment discourse
- 1. Power through: A new concept in the empowerment discourse A. Galiè and C.R. Farnworth CGIAR Gender Platform Webinar series 27 November 2019
- 3. Empowerment conceptualizations Capability to realize one’s aspirations in order to live a life s/he has reason to value (Kabeer, 1999; Sen, 1990) Often considered an individual process of change… Tied up to ‘agency’… Can be operationalized through: 1. Recognition 2. Access to resources 3. Access to opportunities 4. Decision-making
- 4. Four definitions of power… Power within Power with Power to Power over
- 5. Power through involuntary relational Mediated by: 1. the empowerment status of associated others 2. personal characteristics vis-à-vis gender norms 3. normative judgment by others precondition for dis/empowerment
- 6. Methodology Research question: ‘What does empowerment mean to you?’ Who: 12 women and 24 men crop farmers – Syria 24 men and 24 women dairy livestock keepers – Tanzania 20 men and 22 women milk traders - Kenya Where: agricultural communities in Syria, Kenya, Tanzania When: 2006 and 2017 Method: Individual semi-structured interviews; single-sex focus group discussions (FGDs)
- 7. 1. Power through by association with significant others
- 8. Involuntary empowerment through association with significant others - Syria Higher social status = a precondition for more effective agency e.g. Your better job: my enhanced empowerment
- 10. Key message 1 ‘Empowerment of individual women is partly involuntary and constituted through the empowerment of significant people - particularly men - associated with them. When a person in the family becomes empowered in the eyes of the community then the whole family is considered empowered simply through association with that person’
- 11. 2. Power through personal characteristics and inter-relational gender norms
- 12. Characteristics of empowered wo/man vis-à-vis gender roles – Kenya Physically strong Good hearted Rich Self-confident Determined Good mother Well-dressed Healthy For man: E. characteristics generally valuable For woman: valuable for E. only if they do not impair her ability to be a ‘good wife’, ‘good mother’…
- 13. Characteristics of empowerment and gender roles Self-confident Determined Helps community Good mother Good wife…
- 14. Key message 2 “A self-confident but disrespectful wife cannot be an empowered woman” ‘Empowerment is affected by a complex interplay between an individual holding characteristics of empowerment and the compatibility of these characteristics with locally sanctioned social roles’ Women’s empowerment = possessing key characteristics of empowerment IF abiding by household-level inter-relational norms Men's empowerment = possessing key characteristics of empowerment + better if abiding by community-level inter-relational norms
- 15. 3. Power through community judgment
- 16. Empowerment as a zero-sum - Tanzania
- 17. Empowerment as a zero-sum - Tanzania
- 18. Key message 3 ‘An individual is accorded an ‘empowered’ or ‘disempowered’ status through the assessment by community members of the alignment between an individual's ‘gender performance of social roles’ and locally valid gender norms’
- 19. 4. The gender norms façade
- 20. Gender norms façade: strategy to ensure community approval ‘the gender norm façade’ = interview participants describe their own household gender dynamics using stereotypical, local gender norms. Actual daily performance of roles and responsibilities may be very different.
- 21. Key message 4 Gender norms façade helps: Accommodate necessary changes in gender norms Avoid challenging gender norms openly Ensure community approval Respondents to be agents of change
- 22. From Power Through to Empowerment involuntary relational use agency to maintain the gender norms façade Pre-condition for empowerment Stay empowered
- 23. Summary: 4 key points… 1. Empowerment of individual is partly constituted through empowerment of significant others 3. Actualization of empowerment is affected by community judgment 2. Empowerment entails ‘right’ personal characteristics and ability to conform to gender norms when relating to others 4 . Gender norm façade: Respondents show that their household gender dynamics conform to gender norms
- 24. Concluding remarks: what power through entails 1. Women’s empowerment needs to be situated within gender dynamics – focus on WE only, may disempower 2. Empowerment a zero-sum game 3. Empowerment an absolute; it depends on how individuals, hhs, community interpret change 4. ‘Household empowerment’ vis-à-vis the community 5. Gender norms façade leveraged strategically to support women’s empowerment 6. Empowering men as a means to empower women simply will not work. Empowered men can provide an opening for women’s own empowerment. However, empowering women purposefully remains critical.
- 25. Alessandra Galiè, PhD | Senior Scientist: Gender International Livestock Research Institute | ilri.org a.galie@cgiar.org Cathy Rozel Farnworth, PhD | Researcher in gender, agriculture, climate change cathyfarnworth@hotmail.com
- 26. This presentation is licensed for use under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence. better lives through livestock ilri.org ILRI thanks all donors and organizations who globally supported its work through their contributions to the CGIAR system
Editor's Notes
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