Document Abstract
Published:
2011
Empowerment: a journey not a destination
Pathways of Women’s Empowerment is an international research and communications programme that began in 2006. Its focus has been on understanding and influencing efforts to bring about positive change in women’s lives. This report explains how Pathways works across regions, and presents twelve key messages that have emerged from the studies and interventions supported by the Pathways programme.
The twelve key findings are:
1. What is empowering to one women is not necessarily empowering to another.
2. Across very different contexts, women’s ability to exercise voice and strategic forms of control over their lives is linked to being able to generate regular and independent sources of income.
3. Relationships lie at the heart of women’s empowerment.
4. Sexuality is a vital but neglected dimension of women’s empowerment.
5. Understanding women’s empowerment calls for rigorous and imaginative combinations of research methodologies and methods.
6. Efforts to promote women’s empowerment need to do more than give individual women economic or political opportunities. They need to tackle deeper-rooted structural constraints that perpetuate inequalities.
7. Policies and laws that affirm women’s rights and open up pathways for women’s empowerment are critically important. But they are not in themselves sufficient to change women’s lives.
8. Women’s organising is vital for sustainable change
9. There is no one size fits all approach to women’s empowerment.
10. Fostering public engagement and debate is essential to making policies that work for women’s empowerment and gender equality.
11. Recognising and supporting those within the state who are responsible for implementing women’s empowerment interventions is crucial
12. Changing attitudes and values is as important as changing women’s material circumstances and political opportunities.
The report contains a range of insightful viewpoints and quotes from Pathways researchers and partners, as well as interesting photos taken by people involved in the various initiatives.
The twelve key findings are:
1. What is empowering to one women is not necessarily empowering to another.
2. Across very different contexts, women’s ability to exercise voice and strategic forms of control over their lives is linked to being able to generate regular and independent sources of income.
3. Relationships lie at the heart of women’s empowerment.
4. Sexuality is a vital but neglected dimension of women’s empowerment.
5. Understanding women’s empowerment calls for rigorous and imaginative combinations of research methodologies and methods.
6. Efforts to promote women’s empowerment need to do more than give individual women economic or political opportunities. They need to tackle deeper-rooted structural constraints that perpetuate inequalities.
7. Policies and laws that affirm women’s rights and open up pathways for women’s empowerment are critically important. But they are not in themselves sufficient to change women’s lives.
8. Women’s organising is vital for sustainable change
9. There is no one size fits all approach to women’s empowerment.
10. Fostering public engagement and debate is essential to making policies that work for women’s empowerment and gender equality.
11. Recognising and supporting those within the state who are responsible for implementing women’s empowerment interventions is crucial
12. Changing attitudes and values is as important as changing women’s material circumstances and political opportunities.
The report contains a range of insightful viewpoints and quotes from Pathways researchers and partners, as well as interesting photos taken by people involved in the various initiatives.
