Empowerment
Empowerment is an increase in power. He argues that power can be either ‗variable sum‘ or ‗zero sum‘. The former refers to a process through which the powerless can be empowered without altering the nature and the levels of the power..while the later refers to ‗any gain in power by one group inevitably results in a reduction of the power exercised by others.
Empowerment is instrumentally important for achieving positive development outcomes and well-being of life which lies in the doing and being what one value and have reason to value i.e. agency. Sen make a strong claim for increasing the agency of the individual to enable them to be an effective agent of their own well being and development. The concept of empowerment is very complex in itself indeed very fuzzy also; different scholars hold different definition of empowerment according to the need of their work. Women’s agency, autonomy and empowerment are widely used idea in development literature and capability approach. But there exists substantial ambiguity in conception of these ideas. While women’s well being and women’s agency is sufficiently distinguished from each other, there seems to be a large overlap between agency and empowerment and between agency and autonomy. The present paper examines various conceptions of these ideas to clearly mark the overlapping zones and distinguishing features of respective concepts.
Women’s Empowerment: Concept and Empirical Evidence from India
The concept of empowerment traces its history in the mid-17th century with the legalistic meaning; ‗to invest with authority‘. Thereafter it began to be used with an infinitive in a more general way meaning "to enable or permit." Its modern use originated in the civil rights movement, which sought political empowerment for its followers. This idea of empowerment is an offshoot of the discourse on human development and it came into prominence after 1980s. Its linkage with feminist discourse went a long way in shaping the
Empowerment is instrumentally important for achieving positive development outcomes and well-being of life which lies in the doing and being what one value and have reason to value i.e. agency. Sen make a strong claim for increasing the agency of the individual to enable them to be an effective agent of their own well being and development. The concept of empowerment is very complex in itself indeed very fuzzy also; different scholars hold different definition of empowerment according to the need of their work. Women’s agency, autonomy and empowerment are widely used idea in development literature and capability approach. But there exists substantial ambiguity in conception of these ideas. While women’s well being and women’s agency is sufficiently distinguished from each other, there seems to be a large overlap between agency and empowerment and between agency and autonomy. The present paper examines various conceptions of these ideas to clearly mark the overlapping zones and distinguishing features of respective concepts.
Women’s Empowerment: Concept and Empirical Evidence from India
The concept of empowerment traces its history in the mid-17th century with the legalistic meaning; ‗to invest with authority‘. Thereafter it began to be used with an infinitive in a more general way meaning "to enable or permit." Its modern use originated in the civil rights movement, which sought political empowerment for its followers. This idea of empowerment is an offshoot of the discourse on human development and it came into prominence after 1980s. Its linkage with feminist discourse went a long way in shaping the