Empowerment without Antagonism: A Case for Reformulation of Women's Empowerment Approach

The failed women's development perspective & the subsequent evolution of the women's empowerment paradigm in the 1990s are sketched & contrasted. The former perspective is socioeconomic, while the latter is essentially political. It is argued that the newer paradigm will also fail...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sociological bulletin 2000-03, Vol.49 (1), p.19-39
Main Author: Sharma, S. L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Conscientization
Development strategies
Empowerment
Equality
Equity
Females
Feminism
Gender
Gender equality
Gender relations
Gender roles
India
Indian culture
Men
Patriarchies
Personal empowerment
Sex equality
Sexual Inequality
Sociology
Sociology of the family. Age groups
Woman social status. Women's emancipation
Women's role
Women's status
Womens empowerment
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The failed women's development perspective & the subsequent evolution of the women's empowerment paradigm in the 1990s are sketched & contrasted. The former perspective is socioeconomic, while the latter is essentially political. It is argued that the newer paradigm will also fail to achieve gender equality because of its liberal, structural, & cultural deficiencies. It suffers from three liberal fallacies -- exclusivity bias, adversarial orientation, & subversive logic -- in dealing with the male gender. It ignores women's existential condition, & places heavy reliance on a conscientization strategy. It also has a Western ethnocentric & elitist bias. The Indian experience of the women's movement & women's empowerment is described. A reformulation of women's empowerment as gender empowerment & concepts of equality & equity are discussed. 27 References. M. Pflum
ISSN:0038-0229
2457-0257
DOI:10.1177/0038022920000102