Empowerment: another buzzword in the development lexicon? In the ever-changing field of international development, buzzwords play an important role in framing the current agendas that are of interest to the international communities. These buzzwords, which can be globally circulating ideas for change or methods of practice, can be adopted for several reasons. It can be thought that framing the issue in this way may resonate more with potential supporters and more effectively help in the pursuit of the goals. Or it can be a password for potential funding, or a way of bringing together a diverse set of practitioners and beneficiaries and make it easier to build networks and partnerships with other international organizations (Cornwall & Eade …show more content…
She was concerned that, like other concepts such as poverty alleviation, empowerment too would lose its transformative ability. She called for collective effort and political action on local and national power structures that oppressed women and men. For her, empowerment is “the process of challenging existing power relations, and gaining greater control over the courses of power” (Batliwala 1994:130). For her change has to come from both the grassroots level and national level. Similarly, according to Kabeer (2001), women’s empowerment is a process that seeks to challenge patriarchal institutions and beliefs that reinforce women’s inequality. For her, it aims at achieving collective rights in social, economic, political, and cultural domains. Thus, similar to Batliwala, Kabeer(2001) looks at empowerment as being a collective endeavour across various domains. Also in this line of thinking would be Marquand (1997) and Stiles (2000) who focus on the role of national and global politics and posit that, for any change to emerge, women and men cannot only be understood at the local …show more content…
This made feminists explore new ways in which the experiences of women and what they are capable of are constructed within the power relations that are sought of to be transformed ( Armstrong 2011). These entanglements of power complicate stories of domination and resistance, making complex any development interventions intended to empower women, who are thought to be marginalized by current conditions, by changing the power dynamic within
Gender equality in relation to a more peaceful world is a topic of extensive debate also. Empowering women politically is an indispensible requisite for advancing the development of policies that affect women specifically as a political demographic. This is necessary to encouraging and sustaining the integration of a gendered perspective on all aspects of political decisions, which will in turn lead to a more peaceful world in terms of gender-related violence and discrimination.
Words never fade. Whether they help or hurt an individual, words influence his or her thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors long after he or she hears them. Even though Mother Teresa has passed away, her work and quotes influence me as an aspiring social worker. She once said, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples” (as cited in Bradberry, 2015). Mother Teresa worked in the slums of Calcutta, India with the poor and the outcasts. Even though her outreach was limited, she influenced the entire world by creating ripples. I desire to be a social worker that continually welcomes those who need empowering while simultaneously creating ripples to the broader society.
As nurses, it is important that we “be both empowered and competent enablers of patient empowerment.” (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014, p. 493) We took an oath to follow an ethical code which requires us to act as our patient’s advocate while providing safe nursing care. Nevertheless, we cannot make every medical choice or decision on their behalf. We also cannot empower them, “because to do so removes the element of choice.” (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014, p. 501) We can, however, “facilitate empowerment by working directly with patients and through addressing social, political, and environmental factors affecting empowerment of individuals and communities.” (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014, p. 493) In this paper, I will discuss how nurses can provide empowerment, some of the issues and constraints affecting empowerment, and how I feel regarding empowerment in my workplace.
World Bank Policy Report. (2001). Engendering development: Through gender equality in rights, resources, and voice. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Giving to others through humanitarian projects is not only inclusive of providing monetary solutions for food. Philosophies and intention to reach specific goals are also associated with the needs of others. The Hunger Project is designed with the central goal of eradicating poverty. However, it is found that this is not done only by feeding the poor, but instead through empowerment initiatives that allow others to change their lives. When looking at the approach used to The Hunger Project, it can be seen that the ability to provide empowerment to others will assist in changing lives through donations. The impact which is made by making a donation creates an initiative not only through the power of changing lives of those in need. It also alters the socio political landscape and the global society at large. This impact is one which can redefine the overall functions in the globe, specifically by eradicating poverty.
The principal of empowerment lies in the capability of a woman to control her own purposes. Previously in the 70’s, being an empowered women wasn’t an option. They didn’t have equal capabilities such as education to achieve literacy, health and equal access to resources and opportunities such as employment with same wage as men. However, to use those rights, skills, resources, and opportunities to make deliberate decisions such as providing through management opportunities and involvement in political organizations, weren’t an option either. Also women wanted to live without the fear of pressure and violence threw out those historical times. Because the stereotype for women was the proper place for them to be was home while men worked to provide for his family. These boundaries have made men the guardians of what has been taught and understood concerning gender and the placement of men and women in society. However, this perspective has changed over the years. Women have now stepped outside of those powerless limits of domesticity and have now been recognized as gender equality. Women today in society now have strengthen opportunities for a proper education, assurance for sexual and reproductive health and rights, abolish gender discrimination in employment by decreasing women’s dependence as a house wife as an employment, increased women’s share of seats in
Since the beginning of time, women have strived to achieve an equal status in society. The vast majority of women have rebelled against the norm for equal status. As if washing the dirt off one’s hands, women are forgotten for all of their achievements. The identity of women in the Western world has evolved from domesticity and servility, and moved toward their valuation as individuals of intellect, talent, and independence. The culture about women’s empowerment has been reflected in literature and history throughout many ages.
Awareness springs activism. When one properly learns of a situation that must be alleviated they can now act to reduce the problem. Courses and organizations on women’s and gender issues are most helpful in spreading awareness throughout the land. As more people become educated on the subject, there is a good chance that a percentage of those people will take action.
When advocating on behalf of a population experiencing a social problem, empowerment seems to be more prevalent than one may think, although this remains a difficult skill to master. Empowerment is the process of enabling an oppressed or marginalized population to think, behave, and take action in autonomous ways. The purpose of empowerment is to assist an oppressed and/or marginalized group in overcoming feelings of powerlessness and negative valuations so they can resolve their problems and influence political change (Hardina, 2003). In social work, the goal of empowerment is to increase the power of the oppressed population or community (Hardina, 2003).
...action with others… especially men. This supplies final substantiation of the authors' argument, that women continue to be oppressed by their male-dominated societies. It is a bold undertaking for women to ally and promote a world movement to abandon sexist traditions. Although I have never lived in a third world or non-Westernized country, I have studied the conditions women suffer as "inferior" to men. In National Geographic and various courses I have taken, these terrible conditions are depicted in full color. Gender inequality is a terrible trait of our global society, and unfortunately, a trait that might not be ready to change. In America we see gender bias towards women in voters' unwillingness to elect more females into high office, and while this is not nearly as severe as the rest of the world, it indicates the lingering practice of gender inequality.
Dubois states, “a conceptualization of empowerment social work as a social justice contract requires a core of ethical preferences that gives due consideration to both the clinical and critical dimensions of empowerment social work” (Dubois, 2007). To approach their clinical work from an empowerment perspective,
... a wide array of varying groups of women. In conjunction with feminist projects, the promotion of women interest being recognized and heard is ongoing. Broader feminist project are insisting that women be heard, even with the possibility of them having to take more refined methods to authority through acts of resistance. Feminist scholars have served as influential advocates in the longing for women’s rights for pay equity throughout the United States and have stressed that women have the right to make choices for themselves, free of male dominance or foreseeing factors. However, there has been increasing awareness that these factors attempting to be rectified are not necessarily issues for all women around the world. Feminist anthropology has attempted to bring to emphasize their concerns and to find ways in which these women can empower themselves to urge change.
Empowerment can vary from person to person. A broad perspective of empowerment that the majority of people can relate too is based on setting goals and achieving them. A person needs to take control of their own goals they have set and do everything possible to achieve them. This also means that you need to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses so that your goals will be more attainable. While most of these goals can be personal, they can also be applied to a career setting.
In America, the rights of women have come a long way from where they were just forty and fifty years ago. Women still have a far path to go for equality and equal respect as men in America, but the success thus far is certainly notable. This success however, is not shared internationally to women of different countries, religions and cultures. Westerners seem to believe that using globalization as a means to bring gender equality to the people of Africa is a suitable plan, even though it is obvious that their values and cultural norms are no-where near similar to ours. Western feminism is not yet a reasonable approach to gender issues facing Africa. There are many examples of women in power in Africa especially in seats of legislature and congress in African countries, so this debate is not argue whether or not African women have made any head-way in improving their rights and the impact of their voices. This debate is to argue simply that our “western ways” are not the “only ways”. Feminism needs to be tailored specifically to the people it effects before it can be an effective proc...
This international development goal is to expand women’s opportunities by providing them with the rights that they are entitled to (World Bank, 2011). The World Bank (2011) states that it is essential to empower women and girls by: improving education, increase literacy rates, increase early childhood development intercessions, increase women’s labor force participation, improve women’s access to financial resources, ending gender based violence, promote women’s political rights, and lastly, to improve reproductive health. In achieving these goals, gender equality can exist by the year 2015.