Discussing Women Empowerment - Research Paper Example

Research Proposal: Women Empowerment Research Proposal: Women Empowerment Introduction The research will involve various literary sources especially from the internet, with the goal of revitalizing discussion of women’s empowerment, creating new approaches into the factors and policies that contribute to empowering women’s lives, and exploring women’s own pathways to empowerment. This brief research brings together a small range of materials, which discuss women’s empowerment from different perspectives so as to give an accessible introduction to main concepts and approaches (Cohen 20). Background and statement of the problem For a long time, women have been greatly overlooked and their contributions to the well being of societies are not properly acknowledged. Several organizations, especially human rights bodies, have worked on this problem. Their results were quite similar with my research, because they reflected creation of more opportunities and involvement of various relevant authorities towards the cause (Cohen 24). Research hypothesis and data My research data incorporates a brief overview of previous research on the same issue. Data from sources have been included as par topic in different paragraphs within the body. Study design My study will only look at the role of women in the economy and their role in their relationships with men as a couple. My study approach required a brief overview of data from other sources. THE PROJECT Women Empowerment Abstract Women empowerment remains a major factor in community development. Since 1990, girls and women have made significant steps, but they cannot yet been sufficiently empowered since they have to fully gain gender equity. In this research, I have briefly reviewed some of the methods used to estimate and examine gender inequality, which is the main factor slowing down women empowerment. These methods I have reviewed can be incorporated in providing a critique of existing measures pertaining to women empowerment, which includes the first global gender indices which was launched in 1995. The Human Development Report – the Gender-related Development Index and the Gender Empowerment Measure – These indices are unique, because they include major issues which contribute to women empowerment like attainment of education and participation in economic and political affairs (Cohen 30). In this report, I have briefly mentioned how this data represents an important advance on existing global measures of women empowerment. The measures of the barriers for women increase awareness of the prevailing problems, which allow monitoring of progress towards women empowerment objectives, and help keep governments answerable. In this light, the Gender Empowerment Measure is designed to make known the magnitude to which the realization of a country’s women empowerment contribution potential is curtailed by gender inequality, and presents practical foundations for policy analysis and advocacy efforts. One can also compare these results with those of other indices, for example gender inequality indices, where you can find major disparity in rankings across the variety of indices, mainly due to differences in the elements of women empowerment factors (Argawal 34). Introduction Women empowerment is an intrinsic dimension of human development. If women are constantly deprived of liberty and opportunities, this is not in line with human development. Women empowerment has instrumental value for human development—there is a lot of country level proof showing how investments in women can be a vehicle to enhance long-term projection for growth prospects and human development. Promotion of women empowerment is the third Millennium Development Goal and equity is protected in the UN Charter. Many other crucial international contracts have insisted on governments to procure steps to make sure that both women and men enjoy equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities, which will aid in empowering women. International, regional and national reports have investigated and uncovered key dimensions pertaining to the empowerment of women (Bateman 45). The 1995 global report on gender show cased the areas of progress, but it also took notice that woman still out numbered men in terms of illiteracy by a ratio of 2:1(two to one) in the year 1995, girls constituting around 60 percent of those without access to lower education level like primary school. It was also noted that women’s labor force participation was only about 40 percent, and only 10 percent of parliamentary seats were occupied by women according to the Report. Also, of the 1.3 billion people in poverty, 70% were women as highlighted in the Report. In the current regional report for Asia–Pacific, the 2005 Arab States Report and the 2007 Azerbaijan report are amongst current human development reports that have observed in detail the main factors hindering women empowerment. For example, the 2010 Asia Pacific Report, single out women’s lack of power and voice as the main factor contributing to gender inequality in the region, and advocates that factors pertaining to legal, economic and political obstacles facing women, be addressed at the same time. Gender inequality in the employment industry shows the disparities of prospects pertaining men and women, as it was noted in the Azerbaijan report. Appropriate indicators and monitoring is essential in order to be familiar with how the progress is being made regarding the policy objectives of women empowerment. This is a daunting task in part, due to conceptual complexities and data deficiency (Blanchard, John & Alan 40). Women’s power over resources Households allocate more resources to children’s health and education when women’s power over resources increases, according to studies from both developing and developed countries. This major factor has been consistently shown. The measurement of the power variable itself is one key practical challenge in estimating the impact of women’s relative power over resources (Ciulla 23). There is increased allocation of resources to children or other family members. The difficulty lies in identifying an exogenous source of relative power over provision of resources – one which is not a result of decision making for women. Early contributions to this point of view used shares of income as a measure of relative power of women over resources. However, we should consider that individual labor contribution and earnings can be an end result of negotiation among women and their spouses, and also be a sign of their relative price of time (wages), and hence it does not qualify as an independent indicator of women’s power over resources (Deneulin & Lila 34). A large literary data counts on non-labor income or asset ownership of men and women. However, this measure might not be free from the inclusion of the amount of time of labor supplied by the man or woman (couple). For example, properties presently owned might have been financed using previous incomes. In order to address this issue, many documents have looked at the influence of assets brought in upon marriage, arguing that they are less likely to be affect women’s power in decision making within a marriage. Particular types of programs can result in a relative increase in women’s resources, and a more current survey has studied the impact of such programs. Another set of surveys have exploited changes in laws that enhances women’s relative bargaining power in reference to their place in relationship with men (Nussbaum 24). Empowering Women through the Policy Process Playing a role in the policy-making process is an important though poorly recognized method by which women can become empowered. An example of two case studies which illuminate the issue of women’s empowerment is the way in which procedures of backing can empower women, and the method in which policies that empower women can be achieved through women’s participation and backing. The 1994 Women’s Health Conference held in South Africa was the first ever experience of a truly counseling and advice-giving process, and one which would in the end put together a direct policy influence. It is this knowledge that significantly contributed in strengthening women’s self-esteem, enhancing their belief in their own capability to have a say in policy making processes within the region. It brought about focus on the policies used to amend various legislations and revealed the varied approaches that are necessary in order to ensure that women’s empowerment remained at the centre of policy content. Women empowerment can also be through the implementation process of the policies governing them. A gender disparity is notably one of the main factors which have been slowing down women empowerment (Nussbaum 28). We can look at some of these measures of gender disparities. A Review of Existing Measures of Gender Disparities The extent of the disadvantages affecting women has played a very significant role in increasing the awareness of problems, and helping to keep the relevant authorities accountable. A broad collective effort –on the part of the International Labor Organization, World Bank, the OECD and World Economic Forum, has contributed significantly to the amount of data incorporating gender perspectives which has considerably increased since the early 1990s. The degree to which basic indicators are methodically available on a gender disaggregated basis has enhanced a great deal - for example, enrolments in schools, a large number of health related data, and employment in various areas of the economy. For specific issues like reproductive health and violence against women, much better information is also available although still there are large gaps. One of the main challenges in assessing the steps forward in gender parity has been enumerating critical aspects. For example, the notion of women’s empowerment is hard to asses and estimate. Another facet which may theoretically be easier to measure, but practically very difficult is time-use. The same applies for asset ownership (Potterfield 45). Important facts According to the United Nations Millennium Campaign, it was estimated that Women work two-thirds of the world’s working hours. It has been identified that a tremendous majority of the labor that supports life which universally has been accorded low status and no pay is growing food, cooking, raising children, caring for the elderly, maintaining a house and getting water is done by women. It is however unfortunate that this never-ending cycle of labor rarely turns up in economic analyses of a society’s production and value (UNICEF 10). Of the world’s income, women earn only 10 percent. In almost all situations where women work for money, they are usually restricted to a set of jobs regarded suitable for women, which are usually low-paying and low-status positions. Of the world’s property, women own less than 1 percent. Women have no possessions to leverage for financial strength, and cannot invest in regions or communities where laws or customs prevent them from being in possession of land or other valuable assets, from getting loans or credit, or from having the opportunity to inherit or own their home. Literacy is among the crucial drivers of human development; therefore, it is sad to know that women comprise of two-thirds of the projected 876 million adults worldwide, who are incapable of reading or writing. Education is a very important key in empowering women. It is a common observation that women who are literate tend to have less number of children than those who are illiterate. Conclusions Significant progress has been made in enhancing women’s status and well-being, thus empowering them. The following are the substantial challenges remaining: There is insufficiency of gender disaggregated data pertaining to most crucial features of women’s empowerment. In some situations, even if these measures are available for some countries, the data may not be available for those countries where gender is not an important issue. Lastly, some of the more interesting features of gender that should be included in most indices are for example gender based violence, ownership of property, community life participation and decision making. Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) is unique because it focuses on crucial aspects that facilitate women empowerment in various fields like that of attaining education, participation in economical and political aspects in society, as well as their specific health issues. Governments should be deeply committed to empowering women, especially in most third world countries, which chose to focus particularly on women empowerment, because in every society, it is women who struggle against gender norms which limit their resources and opportunities for improvement. Most fundamentally, I chose women empowerment because women are important in their own right. Works Cited Argawal, Bina. Gender and Green Governance: The Political Economy of Women’s Presence Within and Beyond Community Forestry. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print. Bateman, Milford. Why Doesn’t Microfinance Work? The Destructive Rise of Local Neoliberalism. New York: Zed Books, 2010. Print. Blanchard, Kenneth, John, Carlos, & Alan Randolph. Empowerment Takes More than a Minute. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 1996. Print. Ciulla, Joanne. Leadership and the Problem of Bogus Empowerment. London: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Print. Cohen, Samuel. 50 Essays: A Portable Anthology. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2010. Print. Deneulin, Séverine, & Lila Shahani. An Introduction to the Human Development and Capability Approach: Freedom and Agency. Sterling, VA: Earthscan, 2009. Print. Nussbaum, Martha. Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Print. Nussbaum, Martha. Women, Culture, and Development: A Study of Human Capabilities. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Print. Potterfield, Thomas. The Business of Employee Empowerment: Democracy and Ideology in the Workplace. New York: Quorum Books, 1999. Print. UNICEF. The State of the World’s Children. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund, 2007. Print. Read More