Young Women Can Look Forward to a Better Quality of Life Ever Than Before. Do You Agree?

Report No 40

Gender and empowerment: definitions, approaches and implications for policy
Briefing prepared for the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida)

by Zoë Oxaal with Sally Baden
October 1997 (revised)

The authors gratefully acknowledge support for the preparation of this report from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida). However, the views expressed and any errors or omissions are those of the authors and not of Sida.

BRIDGE (development - gender) Institute of Development Studies University of Sussex Brighton BN1 9RE, UK Tel: +44 (0) 1273 606261 Fax: +44 (0) 1273 621202/691647 Email: bridge@ids.ac.uk Website: http://www.ids.ac.uk/bridge ISBN: 1 85864 175 6 © Institute of Development Studies, Brighton

CONTENTS

ACRONYMS 1. DEFINITIONS OF EMPOWERMENT
1.1 Definitions and usage of ‘empowerment’ 1.2 Empowerment in gender equality discourse 1.3 Empowerment as a process

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2. APPROACHES TO EMPOWERMENT IN POLICY AND PRACTICE
2.1 Policy goals and frameworks for women’s empowerment in development organisations 2.2 Empowerment in development activities 2.2.1 Current approaches to women’s empowerment 2.2.2 Economic empowerment through credit programmes 2.2.3 Empowerment through political participation 2.2.4 Empowerment, sexual and reproductive rights and health

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3. INDICATORS OF EMPOWERMENT
3.1 Measuring empowerment 3.2 Broad indicators of women’s empowerment 3.2.1 The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) 3.3 Programme-related indicators of empowerment 3.3.1 Empowerment indicators in credit programmes 3.3.2 CIDA’s empowerment indicators 3.3.3 Empowerment and participatory evaluation

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4. IMPLICATIONS FOR POLICY AND STRATEGY
Appendix 1: UNDP and women’s empowerment

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Appendix 2: Mainstreaming gender in UNICEF: the Women’s Empowerment Framework 28 Appendix 3: CEPDA Appendix 4: CIDA’s indicators of empowerment 29 30

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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ACRONYMS ACORD AIDS BRAC...