Description

Empowerment has become popular; largely unquestioned 'good' aspired to by such diverse and contradictory institutions as the World Bank, Oxfam and many more radical Non-Government Organizations (NGOs). More recently, empowerment has been adopted by mainstream development agencies as well, albeit more to improve productivity iithin the status quo than to foster-social transformation (Jane L. Parpart, 2002)1 - Empowerment has thus become a -motherhood' term, comfortable and unquestionable, something very different institutions and practices seem to be able to agree on. Empowerment, especially for women, has been on the minds of a number of scholars and practitioners, most notably Haleh Afshar (1998)2, Jo Rowlands (1997)3, Naila Kabeer (1994)4 and Srilatha BatLwala (I 994 )5. However, most interrogations of the term have focused on ways to improve its effectiveness at the local level. The emphasis has been on grassroots, participatory me: hods and their empowerment potential for the 'poorest of the poor' (especially women). However, empowerment of women has become a relevant issue today, due to the magnitude of women's powerlessness and subordination in the contemporary rncial context..