women empowerment
Can We Force Women’s Empowerment?
Because the battle for women’s empowerment has come so far in westernized
countries, many activists are ready to declare the battle won. However, the
struggle for women’s empowerment has barely even begun in many poverty-stricken
areas of the world. Right now, there are nearly 1 billion women living in
complete poverty – or 70% of all poverty-stricken people.
When it comes to working hours, income, property ownership, literacy, and
health, women are falling far behind the standards of men – even when the
standard is already very low. It is hard to even have a discussion about
women’s empowerment when you are struggling simply to survive through the
realities of poverty. If a women’s empowerment movement is going to be built in
poverty-stricken areas, then someone is going to have to lead the way.
While, from a western perspective, it is obvious that a women’ empowerment
movement is greatly needed, the issue of who should lead it is sensitive. When
western organizations come in and assert their ideas about women’s empowerment,
a culture risks losing its identity. Yet, without this foreign support, many
poverty-stricken women would never be able to start on a path towards their own
empowerment.
There are many programs for furthering women’s empowerment in foreign nations.
Education, government infrastructure changes, self-sufficiency, and sustainable
development are all needed. However, there are few women’s empowerment programs
which focus on the full picture of change which is required.
For example, a women’s group may call for new legislation which bans female
genital cutting. However, without changes to the way marriages are structured,
individual awareness, and interpersonal relationships, no change will ever
occur. At the base of all these changes is the underlying problem of poverty.
Only when we can address this problem, will we be able to initiate an effective
plan for women’s empowerment.