Empowerment of Women: A Concept

Abstract

The concept of empowerment of women has gained considerable cognisance post the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. However, it remains elusive as a theoretical construct. Most written accounts spell out its practical context. Consequently, the feminist conceptualisations of empowerment emerge as significant. These focus on empowerment in terms of two broad perspectives -development and movement. The notion of empowerment in the feminist conceptualisations is synonymous with the idea of challenging the systemic forces that make women subordinate and powerless. It is thus viewed by them as an enabling process whereby women gain power to resist and question their subordination. However, Mohanty's account offers a contrary perspective on empowerment bringing to fore it as a disabling concept-a heuristic device used by development practitioners to show them as a part of the grassroots struggle.