Document Abstract
Published:
1 Sep 2008
Women's empowerment in pastoral societies
Best practice for women's empowerment
It is often suggested that women in pastoral societies are marginalised and oppressed either through embedded patriarchal values or through outside influences such as development actors, whose monetary-focused economies and the targeting of men in development interventions, has led to the separation of men’s and women’s spheres of activity. This report suggests we have to move beyond viewing a ‘traditional’ pastoral household as a group of individuals, but rather as a closely interlinked functioning whole in which all individuals play a role and the good of the ‘whole’ is more important than that of an individual.
The paper discusses the concept of empowermentbefore then examining entitlements and access to resources in respect to livestock, education income generation and natural resources . It also looks at collective action with regard to women’s networks and organisations, participation with the power of choice and voice control in personal and public domains, principles of good practice in understanding women’s empowerment andidentification of indicators to measure empowerment.
Each chapter concludes with its own set of key lessons learnt and recommendations based on them. The paper notes that whilst it is difficult to draw some all encompassing conclusions as the issues are many and complex, what is universal is that pastoral women are successful in achieving ‘empowerment’ and particularly the ‘higher levels’ of empowerment including decision making and control. Though development actors have had some success in assisting women to fulfil basic needs and ensure access and security to resources, they have struggled with promoting women’s active participation in decision making processes. Therefore, the one over-riding recommendation for a way forwardis to build on these ‘good practices’ particularly those achievements that pastoral women have made themselves. Development actors need to understand them and identify with women the right ways to support them. The strength and commitment of pastoral women to the pastoral household unit and the survival of pastoral systems should be celebrated, but their voices and choices for change should be heard and supported.
The paper discusses the concept of empowermentbefore then examining entitlements and access to resources in respect to livestock, education income generation and natural resources . It also looks at collective action with regard to women’s networks and organisations, participation with the power of choice and voice control in personal and public domains, principles of good practice in understanding women’s empowerment andidentification of indicators to measure empowerment.
Each chapter concludes with its own set of key lessons learnt and recommendations based on them. The paper notes that whilst it is difficult to draw some all encompassing conclusions as the issues are many and complex, what is universal is that pastoral women are successful in achieving ‘empowerment’ and particularly the ‘higher levels’ of empowerment including decision making and control. Though development actors have had some success in assisting women to fulfil basic needs and ensure access and security to resources, they have struggled with promoting women’s active participation in decision making processes. Therefore, the one over-riding recommendation for a way forwardis to build on these ‘good practices’ particularly those achievements that pastoral women have made themselves. Development actors need to understand them and identify with women the right ways to support them. The strength and commitment of pastoral women to the pastoral household unit and the survival of pastoral systems should be celebrated, but their voices and choices for change should be heard and supported.
