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EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN
There are several principles defining women's empowerment such as, for one to be empowered, they must
come from a position of disempowerment. Furthermore, one must acquire empowerment themselves rather
than have it given to them by an external party. Other studies have found that empowerment definitions
entail people having the capability to make important decisions in their lives while also being able to act on
them. Lastly, empowerment and disempowerment is relative to other people and to themselves at a
previous time; therefore, empowerment is a process, not a product.
Women empowerment has become a significant topic of discussion in development and economics. It can
also point to the approaches regarding other trivialized genders in a particular political or social context.
Women's economic empowerment refers to the ability for women to enjoy their right to control and benefit
from resources, assets, income and their own time, as well as the ability to manage risk and improve their
economic status and wellbeing.
While often interchangeably used, the more comprehensive concept of gender empowerment refers to
people of any gender, stressing the distinction between biological and gender as a role. It thereby also
refers to other marginalized genders in a particular political or social context.
Methods
Scholars have identified two forms of empowerment, economic empowerment and political empowerment.
• Economic Empowerment
Economic empowerment increases women's agency, access to formal government programs, mobility
outside the home, economic independence, and purchasing power.
Strengthening women's access to property inheritance and land rights is another method used to
economically empower women independence. Often, women in developing and underdeveloped nations
are legally restricted from their land on the sole basis of gender.
Another popular methodology for women's economic empowerment also includes microcredit. [7]
Microfinance institutions aim to empower women in their community by giving them access to loans that
have low interest rates without the requirement of collateral. More specifically, they aim to give
microcredit to women whom want to be entrepreneurs.
• Political Empowerment
Political empowerment supports creating policies that would best support gender equality and agency for
women in both the public and private spheres. Popular methods that have been suggested are to create
affirmative action policies that have a quota for the number of women in policy making and parliament
positions. As of 2017, the global average of women whom hold lower and single house parliament
positions is 23.6 percent. Further recommendations have been to increase women's rights to vote, voice
opinions, and the ability to run for office with a fair chance of being elected.
The role of education
Improving education for women helps raise their levels of health and nutrition and reduces fertility rates. ]
Education increases "people's self- confidence and enables them to find better jobs and they can work
shoulder to shoulder with men. They engage in public debate and make demands on government for health
care, social security and other entitlements" .In particular, education empowers women to make choices
that improve their own and their children's health and chances of survival. Education helps to prevent and
contain disease, and is an essential element of efforts to reduce malnutrition. Further, education empowers
women to make choices that improve their welfare, including marrying later and having fewer children.
Crucially, education also increases women's awareness of their human rights their confidence and their
actual ability to assert those rights.
The Internet as a tool of empowerment
The growing access of the web in the late 20th century has allowed women to empower themselves by
using various tools on the Internet. With the introduction of the World Wide Web, women have begun to
use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter for online activism.]^ Through online activism, women
are able to empower themselves by organizing campaigns and voicing their opinions for equality rights
without feeling oppressed by members of society.
Barriers
Many of the barriers to women's empowerment and equity lie ingrained in cultural norms. Many women
feel these pressures, while others have become accustomed to being treated inferior to men. [23]^ Even if
men, legislators, NGOs, etc. are aware of the benefits women's empowerment and participation can have,
many are scared of disrupting the status of the women and continue to let societal norms get in the way of
development.
Research shows that the increasing access to the internet can also result in an increased exploitation of women. Releasing personal information on websites has put some women's personal safety at risk. In 2010, Working to Halt Online Abuse stated that 73% of women were victimized through such sites. Types of victimization include cyber stalking, harassment, online pornography, and flaming. [25]^ Sexual harassment in particular is a large barrier for women in the workplace.
