I am sure you have often heard the term women empowerment. But the question that arises in a layman’s mind is what is meant by women empowerment and why we need it.
Or why it’s important for societies? What are the types of empowerment women can have? And lastly, how can we achieve women empowerment?
This blog post will cover some of these questions in short and easy language. So let’s begin…
What is Women Empowerment?
Women empowerment is a multidimensional idea that covers a broad range of subjects. The term empowerment is associated with different dimensions of power.
“power can be expressed as power within, power to, power with and power over”.
Rowlands (1997)
- The power ‘within’ is associated with your psychology and self-confidence.
- Power ‘to’ is about your capabilities to make decisions and carry them out.
- Power ‘with’ depicts the support from peers, community, and organization as a process to carry out.
- Lastly, power ‘over’ is about measuring the relationships between men, women other members to access the power of the strong over the weak.
A person can be financially, physically, intellectually strong, or powerful to rule and intimidate others.
Women empowerment is a process and women are empowered when they gain power over their own lives.
This can be attained by providing women with the necessary tools and resources such as education, economic and political independence health facilities, etc.
These tools and resources along with other aspects (discussed below) helps women to take control of their lives.
Women are empowered when they are free to take personal and social decisions related to their lives.
“… empowerment must be about bringing people who are outside the decision-making process into it”.
Jo Rowlands (1996)
“the process by which women gain power and control over their own lives and acquire the ability to make strategic choices”.
(EIGE, 2016)
From the above definitions and discussion, you can understand empowerment as a process that encourages individuals to stand up for themselves, their families, community, and society.
And when a woman stands up she takes the power and control of her life to make better decisions.
Why do we need Women Empowerment?
To acknowledge women empowerment, you first need to understand why women empowerment is important.
Women from all around the world despite their culture, race, religion, and region suffer the most. Their suffering varies in different forms of violence, psychological and sexual abuse, poverty, and lack of access to economic and social resources.
In some parts of the world, women are still considered witches. They are killed in the name of honor.
In other parts, they are forced into child marriages, female genital mutilation, human trafficking, dowry-related violence, and much more.
In addition to that, women have little or no freedom to make decisions in their lives.
Such as, they aren’t allowed to wear dresses of their choice, use a mobile phone, watch a movie, get education, or choose a profession. They have little or no say in choosing their life partner and in reproductive matters.
Little or no autonomy on their lives leads to suppression and lack of access to resources.
These barriers impact the lives of women in broader terms. Consequently, women have little or no participation in political and democratic activities.
Unequal participation of women in democracy leads to unequal presentation of women in parliament.
Less women’s voices further suppresses issues that matter most for women. This leads to biased democratic decision-making in economic, political, and social spheres.
Hence, women empowerment is essential to avoid and minimize unequal representation of women in every sphere of life.
In regions where women are empowered and have the right platform, their issues are heard with action-oriented approaches.
Women empowerment prospers social development and the health of families and communities (Dahlum, Knutsen, & Mechkova, 2022). Societies, where women are empowered to take control of their lives, tend to have healthier lives.
Types of Women empowerment
Till now you should have a clear understating of the term women empowerment and why it is so important to empower women across the globe.
In this section, we will go through different types of empowerment. These types are important for women at the individual as well as at the community level.
1. Social empowerment
The idea of social empowerment is to improve the social status and well-being of a woman or a marginalized person. This means better health, happiness, and welfare in their family, community, and society.
It is a process that helps to build the confidence, power, and autonomy of a woman for a better future.
This can be achieved by encouraging women and marginalized people to participate in social activities and promoting equal rights.
Social empowerment has two levels. It can be achieved at the individual level and at a collective or social level.
Social empowerment for a woman or a marginalized person is about the autonomy and decision-making of their inner and outer resources.
At the individual level, empowerment is expanded to take control of their lives. Such as a woman’s confidence, courage, and passion and the autonomy of deciding what to wear, study, buy or how to live etc.
On a collective or social level, empowerment is about empowering women or marginalized people through providing them with resources. Such as good health, education and economic opportunities. These resources help them to build their confidence and self-esteem (Martinez, 2022).
2. Educational Empowerment
Illiteracy and poverty are interconnected. Poor people tend to be illiterate and vice versa. Lack of education and economic independence gives a sense of inferiority and powerlessness.
Whereas, education gives you wings. It gives you awareness about your rights and responsibilities. It enlightens your path to opportunities. Opportunities that give you or any individual the courage to change their destiny.
Educational empowerment is important in building and boosting the confidence of any individual.
It broadens your horizons and opens new boundaries. Empowering women and marginalized people enhances their intellectual, social, cultural, and political abilities.
When women are aware of their rights and opportunities they are more likely to make their own decisions and gain economic independence.
This independence and self-awareness also open doors to be part of the political and democratic process.
“several studies suggest that gender gaps in education negatively impact economic of a country as it reduces human capital. Empowering women through education increases labor force as well as it improves child care and nutrition”.
Dahlum et al., (2022)
3. Psychological Empowerment
Psychological empowerment is a state of mind that gives confidence to individuals. It makes you feel capable and authorized to perform a task.
Women seeking education, actively participating in social and political activities or who are economically empowered have greater control of their lives.
Psychological empowerment is fundamental for women to explore new opportunities and to recognize their self-worth. Mentally strong women are empowered to make decisions that help them to live a successful life.
4. Economic Empowerment
Economic empowerment is the ability of men and women to contribute to the economy and get benefit from it.
Whereas women’s economic empowerment is a rather diversified concept. There is no single agreed definition that defines women’s economic empowerment also there is no single approach that promotes it (Samman & Hunt, 2022).
Women’s economic empowerment can vary from focusing on projects, policies, and programs on a broader level.
These programs focus on promoting gender equality and mitigate legal and cultural barriers for women (EBRD).
On the contrary, the economic empowerment of women can also be achieved by encouraging poor women at the grassroots level.
Despite different approaches, there is a consensus that empowerment can be achieved by women’s equal access to, and control over, resources.
These resources can be financial, assets and capital, access to technology, control over property and land, natural resources, and food production (OECD, 2022).
Collectively, economic empowerment is a process that can be achieved by women taking control over tangible (money and land) and intangible (knowledge and skills) resources.
Hence, encouraging women to acquire education and enhance and develop new skills can be a guiding path for women to support themselves and their families.
Financially strong and independent women play a key role in eliminating poverty, increasing economic productivity, and reducing gender inequality.
The economic independence of women is also crucial for sustainable economic and social development.
5. Political Empowerment
The Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being defines political empowerment as;
“the process of transferring various elements of power (resources, capabilities, and positions) to those who do not have it. Political empowerment requires inclusion in democratic decision-making processes” (Budryte, 2014).
Women comprise half of the world’s population. However, according to the latest figures, they make up only 26.7 percent of parliamentarian representation worldwide (IPU, 2023).
This figure clearly shows the urgency and importance of women’s political empowerment. Equal representation of women in local governments, parliaments, and national assemblies is essential for credible and legitimate democracy.
Political participation is a path to empowerment for the deprived and the powerless.
As discussed previously empowerment is associated with power. Therefore, the political participation of women and marginalized groups in democracy gives them power.
Through political participation, women can challenge, influence, and change public decisions in their favor.
Politically active women are more likely to focus on and raise women’s issues and stand up for their rights.
Through active political participation, women can be part of various decision-making processes at local and national levels.
6. Digital Empowerment
Digital empowerment is about the knowledge and skills that are essential for everyone to fully participate and navigate in our digitized world.
A person is not fully empowered until he or she understands the use and importance of digital technology.
Similar to other inequalities digital inequality exists in our society. As women are mostly deprived of their basic rights therefore they are more exposed to have limited or no access to digital technologies.
No or limited access to mobile, computers, and the internet is common in rural areas.
However, owning a computer or a smartphone doesn’t mean that a woman or a marginalized person is digitally empowered.
A person must be literate enough with the right skills and knowledge to effectively utilize these tools.
Women all around the world regardless of their social and economic status should be literate enough to explore and benefit from the developing technology.
They should be aware of social media platforms, must know about navigating search engines and cloud services, and should know the importance of data privacy.
Digital empowerment is a pathway that provides freedom and diminishes discrimination in society. It can significantly help to enhance a woman’s personal and professional life.
The use of the internet helps to enhance knowledge with a plethora of resources and confidence.
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Final Thoughts
All the types of empowerment discussed above are somehow interconnected and are often overlapped. Hence, it is important to fully explore and understand them.
Such as economic empowerment is connected with psychological empowerment and can also lead to improved social status and education.
A person who is socially empowered can be active in political activities. Working collectively on these types of empowerment can have positive and transformative change for an individual as well as communities.
Additionally, women empowerment is not meant to gain power and use it to dominate the same or other sex.
But it is about empowering women to gain power and control over their own lives through education, confidence, and control over resources.
FAQ
What is empowerment?
Empowerment is a process that encourages individuals to stand up for themselves, their families, the community, and society.
What is women empowerment?
Women empowerment is an ideology and a process to have equal power and authority between men and women by eliminating discrimination and promoting equality.
What are the different types of empowerment?
There are five major types of empowerment.
- Educational empowerment
- Psychological empowerment
- Economic empowerment
- Political empowerment
- Digital empowerment
References
Budryte, D. (2014). Political Empowerment. In Encyclopedia of Quality of Life and Well-Being Research (pp. 4876–4879). doi:doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_2196
Dahlum, S., Knutsen, C. H., & Mechkova, V. (2022, April 21). Women’s political empowerment and economic growth. World Development.
EBRD. (n.d.). Gender Equality and Economic Inclusion. Retrieved August 22, 2023, from European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
EIGE. (2016). empowerment of women. Retrieved November 15, 2023, from European Institute for Gender Equality: https://eige.europa.eu/publications-resources/thesaurus/terms/1246?language_content_entity=en
IPU. (2023, October 1). Global and regional averages of women in national parliaments. Retrieved from Inter-Parliamentary Union
Martinez, H. (2022, May 22). WHAT IS SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT? EMPOWERMENT DEFINITION & THEORY | UNITED WAY NCA. Retrieved October 18, 2023, from United Way of the National Capital Area
McWhirter, E. H. (1998). An Empowerment Model of Counsellor Education . Canadian Journal of Counselling, 12-26.
OECD. (2022). Analysis of DAC members’ policies in support of women’s economic empowerment. Paris: OECD Publishing.
Rowlands, J. (1996). Empowerment Examined. Development in Practice, 101-107.
Rowlands, J. (1997). Questioning Empowerment Working with Women in Honduras. UK and Ireland: Oxfam.
Samman, E., & Hunt, A. (2022, Spetember). Women’s economic empowerment. Retrieved August 29, 2023, from ODI
United Nations. (1995). Report of the Fourth World Conference on Women 1995. New York: United Nations.
United Nations. (n.d.). THE UNITED NATIONS TERMINOLOGY DATABASE. Retrieved November 1, 2023, from https://unterm.un.org
