Women's Empowerment A Philosophical Study with Special Reference to Gandhi

By Jhansi Lakshmi

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign ... 

• Language: English
• Publisher: hrithik
• Release date: Dec 29, 2022
• ISBN: 9781805453581

Book preview

CONTENTS

Chapter - I

INTRODUCTION

Chapter - I

THE STATUS OF WOMEN IN INDIA: A HISTORICAL AND

PHILOSOPHICAL LEGACY

Chapter -III

SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT

Chapter – IV

ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

Man should learn to give place to women, and a country or community in which women are not honored can not be considered as civilized

------M.K.Gandhi, (Harijan, 11-1-1948, p-508

CHAPTER - I

"Indeed the empowerment of women is one of the central issues in the process of development for many countries in the world today. "

------- Dr. Amartya Sen

Chapter - I

INTRODUCTION

The term empowerment is in usage since seventeenth century but has been overused in 1980s and 1990s; it is used as a synonym for participation, for speaking out, or for meeting some basic need. In its undiluted form, however, it is an important concept / idea and philosophy.

Key to the concept is power, power to and no power over.

Empowerment: Meaning, Definition and concept: Empowerment is derived from the word empower meaning to give or to acquire power or to increase power. Thus the word empowerment also implies a change in the equation or level of power. Therefore, it can be viewed as both a process as well as a result of social change.

What is the essential duty of power? Power in tern connotes control.

In the context of human society, it means control over resourc es. These resources include natural resources, financial resources, intellectual resources, human resources etc. Hence, women's empowerment is the process by which women gain greater control over material and intellectual resources and the gender based discrimination against women in all institutions and structures of society. Women empowerment is the process

by which women negotiate for a more equitable distribution of power, a greater space in the initial decision making process m the home, m the community and in economic and political life.

Women need more power to control their lives, to meet their practical and strategic needs, and to shape the world in which they live in ways that are not themselves oppressive. Power can be thought of as a social relationship between groups that determin es access to, use ot: and control over the basic material and ideological resources in society1. T hose who are empowered are able to shape social relations so that resource s are used of the benefit of everyone, especially those who are disadvantage d.

Definitions of empowerment:

Vario us definitions of empowerment for women exist. Empowerment 1s a process of gaining understanding of, and control over, the political forces around one, as a means of improving one's standing in society2.

This require s awareness of one's situation, skill acquisition that enables change3• It involves claiming equality instead of waiting for others to provide it4. Empowerment can be used for social mobilization, changing women's state of mind, and gaining access to the based of social power5

•

Networking and organizing are central to Friedmann's goals of political, psychological, and social empowerment processes. Empowerment begins

when women change their ideas about the causes of their powerlessness, when they recognize the systemic forces that oppress them, and when they act to change the conditions of their lives 6• Morgen and Bookman use the term to connote a spectrum of political activity ranging from acts of individual resistance to mass political mobilizations that challenge the basic power relations in society7• They see empowerment as "a process aimed consolidatin g, maintaining, or changing the nature and distribution of power in a particu lar cultural contes •

t8 Stromquist, further clarifies that this process of changing the distribution of power should focus on in terpersonal relations and in institutions throughout socie •

ty "9

In an other dimension, empowerment denotes to invest with power.

Power is defined as the ability to influence the behavior of others with or with out restraint. The extent to which a person or group holds such power is related to the social influence they can wield. It is also cont rol over resources broadly categorized as intellectual and physical. Empowerment endows women with the ability to gain control over resources, develop physical and psychological capacity to challenge the prevailing gender norms and ensure change. It is dynamic and relational which is exercised in social, economic and political relations between individuals and groups but unevenly distributed according to their access and control over resources. It

varies in social divisions basing on class, ethnicity, caste, gender, economic resources etc.

Lips10 define power as influence and control which explain the absolute and unchangeable characteristics. But Weber' s11 definition of power means the ability to make others to do irrespective of their own wishes and interests implies the relational aspect of power as it is not inherent but exists in relationshi ps. It can therefore be inferred that power is created in relationships and hence power relationships are concomitant on changes in power possessors". Feminist scholars12 like Miller, Starhawk, Bookman and Morgan have emphasized relational power and empowerment of women refers to this broade r perspective.

Empowerment also connoting invest with authority / power which later assumed a socio psychological dimension as an enabling factor.

According to Batliwala13 the conce pt of women' s empowerment in the present context emerged precisely through interaction between feminism and popular Education, which developed in Latin America in the seventies of the Last century. It intertwined Paulo Freiri 's concept of conscientisation with Gramsciam idea of participatory and democratic functioning of institutions for creation of a more equitable and non-exploitative social order. In the eighties feminist observed that women's situation remained

unchanged. Therefore, women's empowerment replaced the earlier terms of women' s development in the mid nineties.

Feminists incorporated gender subordination and the social construction of gender as fundamental to analyze empowerment. A distinction was made between the condition and position of women as the developments in the former kept the later almost unaltered. Maxine Molynix separated women's short-term practical needs from long tenn strategic needs. The process of empowerment has become broader by in cluding both the categories with specific emphasis on change.

Empowerment As a Collective Process:

Process and collectivity are central to empowennent14• Certain ideas leads to experiences and these experiences will lead to feelings of self-confidence, and this self-confidence can generate more courage for women to venture into previo usly foreign arenas where they can exert pressure or challenge social situations that create difficulties for them. Achieving positive results from such an endeavor is reflective of an empowering process and a product or outcome of that process. But individual efforts to effect change in one's life or environment, though important, are limited in scope and results. Collective efforts not only increase the numbers of individuals involved in a social action, they also provide contests in which

empowerment is more actively and energetically pursued. Collective action has the potential to create a stronger vice and sustain a more powerful challenge to discriminatory structures , and to elicit a more adequate response. Experiences of a collective nature can be more dynamic and achieve greater results in empowering the participants and effective positive social change. However, this collective action starts with an idea (philosophy) may be by one in dividual.

Dimensions of Empowerment:

UNISEF strategy:

/

The core of the women's Empowerment Framework is its argument that women 's development can be viewed in terms of five levels of equality, of which empowerme nt is an essential element at each level. The levels are: welfare, access, concentration, participation and control.

I.) Welfare:

This is the first level of empowerment, which addresses only the basic needs of women, without recognizing or attempting to solve the underlying structural causes, which necessitate precision of welfare services.

At this point, women are merely passive beneficiaries of women benefits.

II. Access:

The second level is essential for women to make meaningful progress.

This involves equality of access to resources such as education opportunities, land and credit. The path to