Eine Plattform für die Wissenschaft: Bauingenieurwesen, Architektur und Urbanistik
Women's empowerment and the will to change: Evidence from Nepal
Abstract A static and apolitical framing of women's empowerment has dominated the development sector. In contrast, we assess the pertinence of considering a new variable, the will to change, to reintroduce dynamic and political processes into the way empowerment is framed and measured. This article uses a household survey based on the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and qualitative data collected in Nepal to analyze how critical consciousness influences women's will to change the status quo and the role of visible agency, social structures, and individual determinants in those processes. A circular process emerges: women with higher visible agency and higher critical consciousness are more willing to gain agency in some, but not all, of the WEAI empowerment domains. This analysis advances current conceptualizations of empowerment processes: the will to change offers valuable insights into the dynamic, relational and political nature of women's empowerment. These findings support the design of development programs aiming at increasing visible agency and raising gender critical consciousness and argue for improving the internal validity of women's empowerment measurement tools.
Highlights The will to change highlights the dynamic, and political nature of women's empowerment and its diversity of meanings. Agency and critical consciousness are positively correlated with the will to change across several domains but not all. Higher levels of empowerment as measured by existing tools are not necessarily perceived as desirable for women. Contextualized indicators raise the internal validity of empowerment pathways analysis.
Women's empowerment and the will to change: Evidence from Nepal
Abstract A static and apolitical framing of women's empowerment has dominated the development sector. In contrast, we assess the pertinence of considering a new variable, the will to change, to reintroduce dynamic and political processes into the way empowerment is framed and measured. This article uses a household survey based on the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and qualitative data collected in Nepal to analyze how critical consciousness influences women's will to change the status quo and the role of visible agency, social structures, and individual determinants in those processes. A circular process emerges: women with higher visible agency and higher critical consciousness are more willing to gain agency in some, but not all, of the WEAI empowerment domains. This analysis advances current conceptualizations of empowerment processes: the will to change offers valuable insights into the dynamic, relational and political nature of women's empowerment. These findings support the design of development programs aiming at increasing visible agency and raising gender critical consciousness and argue for improving the internal validity of women's empowerment measurement tools.
Highlights The will to change highlights the dynamic, and political nature of women's empowerment and its diversity of meanings. Agency and critical consciousness are positively correlated with the will to change across several domains but not all. Higher levels of empowerment as measured by existing tools are not necessarily perceived as desirable for women. Contextualized indicators raise the internal validity of empowerment pathways analysis.
Women's empowerment and the will to change: Evidence from Nepal
Buisson, Marie-Charlotte (Autor:in) / Clement, Floriane (Autor:in) / Leder, Stephanie (Autor:in)
Journal of Rural Studies ; 94 ; 128-139
10.06.2022
12 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
Property rights, intersectionality, and women's empowerment in Nepal
Elsevier | 2019
|Tobacco Use Among Married Women in Nepal: The Role of Women’s Empowerment
British Library Online Contents | 2013
|Cultivating Women’s Empowerment through Agritourism: Evidence from Andean Communities
DOAJ | 2019
|