Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Empowerment examined
Jo Rowlands
`Empowerment’ is a term often used in development work, but rarely defined. This article
explores the meaning of empowerment, in the context of its root-concept: power. Different
understandings of what constitutes power lead to a variety of interpretations of
empowerment, and hence to a range of implications for development policy and practice.
`Empowerment’ terminology makes it possible to analyse power, inequality, and oppression;
but to be of value in illuminating development practice, the concept requires precise and
deliberate definition and use.
or cultural groups over those who are definition, empowerment must be about
marginalised. It is thus an instrument of bringing people who are outside the
domination, whose use can be seen in decision-making process into it. This puts a
people’ s personal lives, their close rela- strong emphasis on access to political
tionships, their communities, and beyond. structures and formal decision-making and,
Power of this kind can be subtly in the economic sphere, on access to markets
exercised. Various feminist writers have and incomes that enable people to
described the way in which people who are participate in economic decision-making. It
systematically denied power and influence is about individuals being able to maximise
in the dominant society internalise the the opportunities available to them without
messages they receive about what they are or despite constraints of structure and State.
supposed to be like, and how they may come Within the generative interpretation of
to believe the messages to be true.4 This power, empowerment also includes access to
`internalised oppression’ is adopted as a intangible decision-making processes. It is
survival mechanism, but becomes so well concerned with the processes by which
ingrained that the effects are mistaken for people become aware of their own interests
reality. Thus, for example, a woman who is and how those relate to those of others, in
subjected to violent abuse when she order both to participate from a position of
expresses her own opinions may start to greater strength in decision-making and
withhold them, and eventually come to actually to influence such decisions.
believe that she has no opinions of her own. Feminist interpretations of power lead to a
When control becomes internalised in this still broader understanding of empower-
way, the overt use of `power over’ is no ment, since they go beyond formal and
longer necessary. institutional definitions of power, and
The definition of power in terms of dom- incorporate the idea of `the personal as
ination and obedience contrasts with one political’ .6 From a feminist perspective,
which views it is generative terms: for interpreting `power over’ entails under-
instance `the power some people have of standing the dynamics of oppression and
stimulating activity in others and raising internalised oppression. Since these affect
their morale’ .5 One aspect of this is the kind the ability of less powerful groups to
of leadership that comes from the wish to participate in formal and informal decision-
see a group achieve what it is capable of, making, and to exert influence, they also
where there is no conflict of interests and the affect the way that individuals or groups
group sets its own collective agenda. This perceive themselves and their ability to act
model of power is not a zero-sum: an and influence the world around them.
increase in one person’ s power does not nec- Empowerment is thus more than simply
essarily diminish that of another. And, as opening up access to decision-making; it
Liz Kelly (1992) observes, `I suspect it is must also include the processes that lead
ª power toº that the term ª empowermentº people to perceive themselves as able and
refers to, and it is achieved by increasing entitled to occupy that decision-making
one’s ability to resist and challenge ª power space, and so overlaps with the other categ-
overº.’ ories of `power to’ and `power from within’ .
These interpretations of empowerment
involve giving full scope to the full range of
human abilities and potential. As feminist
What is empowerment? and other social theorists have shown, the
The meaning of `empowerment’ can now be abilities ascribed to a particular set of people
seen to relate to the user’ s interpretation of are to a large degree socially constructed.
power. In the context of the conventional Empowerment must involve undoing
negative social constructions, so that the The process by which people, organisations
people affected come to see themselves as or groups who are powerless (a) become
having the capacity and the right to act and aware of the power dynamics at work in
have influence. their life context, (b) develop the skills and
This wider picture of empowerment can capacity for gaining some reasonable
be seen to have three dimensions: control over their lives, (c) exercise this
control without infringing upon the rights of
· Personal: where empowerment is about others and (d) support the empowerment of
developing a sense of self and individual others in the community. (my emphasis)
confidence and capacity, and undoing the
effects of internalised oppression.
She makes a useful distinction between `the
· Close relationships: where empowerment situation of empowerment’ , where all four
is about developing the ability to negotiate of these conditions are met; and `an
and influence the nature of the relationship empowering situation’ , where one or more
and decisions made within it. of the conditions is in place or being
developed, but where the full requirements
· Collective: where individuals work
are not present.
together to achieve a more extensive impact
Through all these definitions runs the
than each could have had alone. This
theme of understanding: if you understand
includes involvement in political structures,
your situation, you are more likely to act to
but might also cover collective action based
do something about it. There is also the
on cooperation rather than competition.
theme of acting collectively. McWhirter’ s
Collective action may be locally focused Ð
definition makes clear that taking action is
for example, at village or neighbourhood
not about gaining the power to dominate
level Ð or institutional, such as national
others. Writers on social group work also
networks or the United Nations.
insist that empowerment must be used in the
The profound Ð but often unrecognised Ð context of oppression, since empowerment is
differences in the ways in which power is about working to remove the existence and
understood perhaps explain how it is that effects of unjust inequalities (Ward and
people and organisations as far apart Mullender, 1991). Empowerment can take
politically as feminists, Western politicians, place on a small scale, linking people with
and the World Bank have embraced the others in similar situations through self-help,
concept with such enthusiasm. education, support, or social action groups
and network building; or on a larger scale,
through community organisation, campaign-
ing, legislative lobbying, social planning, and
Empowerment in practice policy development (Parsons, 1991).
The idea of empowerment is increasingly The definitions of empowerment used in
used as a tool for understanding what is education, counselling, and social work,
needed to change the situation of poor and although developed through work in
marginalised people. In this context, there is industrialised countries, are broadly similar
broad agreement that empowerment is a to Freire’ s concept of conscientisation,
process; that it involves some degree of which centres on individuals becoming
personal development, but that this is not `subjects’ in their own lives and developing
sufficient; and that it involves moving from a `critical consciousness’ Ð that is, an
insight to action. understanding of their circumstances and the
In a counselling context, McWhirter social environment that leads to action.
(1991) defines empowerment as: In practice, much empowerment work
involves forms of group work. The role of the
outside professional in this context becomes experienced are very different. McWhirter’ s
one of helper and facilitator; anything more definition of empowerment seems equally
directive is seen as inter-fering with the relevant to either context. Any difference is
empowerment of the people concerned. Since more likely to show up in the way in which it
facilitation skills require subtlety in order to is put into practice, and in the particular
be effective, this has usually meant that activities that are called for. This is confirmed
professionals must to some extent re-learn in one of the few definitions of empowerment
how to do their jobs, and develop high-level which has a specific focus on development
skills of self-awareness. In some cases, the (Keller and Mbwewe, 1991), in which it is
professional facilitator has to become a described as:
member of the group, and be willing to do the
A process whereby women become able to
same kind of personal sharing as is
organise themselves to increase their own
encouraged from other participants.
self-reliance, to assert their independent
The outside professional cannot expect to
right to make choices and to control
control the outcomes of authentic empower-
resources which will assist in challenging
ment. Writing about education, Taliaferro
and eliminating their own subordination.
(1991) points out that true power cannot be
bestowed: it comes from within. Any notion Srilatha Batliwala, writing about women’ s
of empowerment being given by one group empowerment, has made a detailed analysis
or another hides an attempt to keep control, of women’ s empowerment programmes,
and she describes the idea of gradual looking at Integrated Rural Development
empowerment as `especially dubious’ . Real (IRD: economic interventions, awareness-
empowerment may take unanticipated building, and organising of women) and at
directions. Outside professionals should Research, Training, and Resource Support.7
therefore be clear that any `power over’ She notes that in some (especially IRD)
which they have in relation to the people programmes, the terms empowerment and
they work with is likely to be challenged by development are used synonymously. It is
them. This raises an ethical and political often assumed that power comes
issue: if the reality is that you do have automatically through economic strength. It
`power over’ Ð as is the case with statutory may do, but often it does not, depending on
authorities or financially powerful specific relations determined by gender,
organisations, such as development agencies culture, class, or caste. Economic relations do
Ð it is misleading to deny that this is so. not always improve women’ s economic
situation, and often add a layer of extra
burden. Often, development work is still done
`for’ women, and an exclusive focus on
Empowerment in a development economic activities does not automatically
context create a space for women to look at their own
How can the concept of empowerment be role as women, or at other problematic
most usefully applied in a development aspects of their lives.
context? Most of the literature about
empowerment, with the exception of Freire
and Batliwala, originates from work in Economic activities and the
industrialised societies. Do poor or otherwise empowerment process
marginalised women and men experience Economic activities may widen the range of
similar problems in developing countries? In options for marginalised people, but do not
both cases, their lack of access to resources necessarily enable them to reach a point
and to formal power is significant, even if the where they can take charge of creating for
contexts within which that lack is themselves the options from which they get
South Asia: Concepts and Practices, New Parsons, R.J. (1991) `Empowerment: purpose
Delhi: Asian-South Pacific Bureau of Adult and practice principle in social work’ , Social
Education and Freedom from Hunger Work with Groups 14/2:7-21
Campaign. Pheterson, G. (1990) `Alliances between
Boulding, K. (1988) Three Faces of Power, women: overcoming internalised oppression
London: Sage. and internalised domination’ in A. Albrecht
Foucault, M. (1980) Power/Knowledge: Selected and R.M. Brewer (eds): Bridges of Power:
Interviews and Other Writings, ed. Colin Women’ s Multicultural Alliances,
Gordon, Brighton: Harvester. Philadelphia: New Society.
Giddens, A. (1984) The Constitution of Society, Price, J. (n.d.) `Women’s Development: Welfare
Cambridge: Polity. Projects or Political Empowerment?’ ,
Hartsock, N. (1985) Money, Sex and Power: presented at Amsterdam conference. Mimeo.
Towards a Feminist Historical Materialism, Starhawk {pseud. M. Simos} (1987) Truth or
Boston: Northeastern University Press. Dare: Encounters with Power, Authority and
Hartsock, N. (1990) `Foucault on power: a Mystery, San Francisco: Harper & Row.
theory for women?’ in L.J. Nicholson, (ed): Taliaferro, M.B. (1991) `The myth of
Feminism/Postmodernism, New York and empowerment’ , Journal of Negro Education
London: Routledge. 60/1: 1-2.
Jackins, H. (1983) The Reclaiming of Power, Ward, D. and A. Mullender (1991) `Empower-
Seattle: Rational Island. ment and oppression: an indissoluble pairing’,
Keller, B. and D.C. Mbwewe (1991) `Policy and Critical Social Policy 11/2:21-30.
planning for the empowerment of Zambia’ s
women farmers’ , Canadian Journal of
Development Studies 12/1: 75-88.
The author
Kelly, L. (1992) `The Contradictions of Power
for Women’ , paper presented at the NFHA Jo Rowlands has worked for over ten years as a
Women and Housing Conference. Mimeo. trainer and consultant for cooperatives and NGOs
Lukes, S. (1974) Power: a Radical View, in Britain and Latin America. She is Co-director
London: Macmillan. of Manantial Women’ s International Link, a
McWhirter, E.H. (1991) `Empowerment in British NGO that brings together women from
counselling’ , Journal of Counselling and industrialised and developing countries. She was
Development 69: 222-7. based until recently at the University of Durham,
Moser, C. (1989) `Gender planning in the Third where she is working on developing a model of
World: meeting practical and strategic gender empowerment that draws on her fieldwork in
needs’ , World Development, 17:11. Honduras. Her address for correspondence is 45
Ngau, P.M. (1987) `Tensions in empowerment: Grange View, Leeds LS7 4ER; tel: 01132
the experience of Harambee (self-help) 625718.
movement, Kenya’ , Economic Development
and Cultural Change 35/3:523-8.