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Naila Kabeer reflects on the power of association and collective action, and its ability to transform the lives and livelihoods of marginalized groups, especially women. Inclusive gatherings of women, she says, are important reminders that seemingly isolated struggles against apparently insurmountable odds are really part of a worldwide movement for change. She gives examples of different kinds of collective action and the different kinds of change each movement affected. Her research experience suggests that collective action does not linearly lead from powerlessness to empowerment; instead, myriad transformative processes occur over time through collective action which solidify into a coherent movement for change. …

This article argues that to understand the conditions that enable effective participation by women in politics, analysis is needed not just of the characteristics and performance of elected women leaders but also the extent to which village communities are engaged through collective processes, in demanding accountability from those elected. The article presents the experiences of a women's movement in the Uttarakhand that has evolved from a programme of environmental education in the region. Over the years, this movement has developed a strong political consciousness. Women's participation in Whole Village Groups has paved the way for active engagement with local governance institutions. …

Twenty years since the landmark women’s conference at Beijing, and as the post-2015 agenda is concluded, it is clear that there has been a significant increase in rhetoric from governments and even some notable achievements in the field of women’s equality and rights.  But a failure to tackle underlying causes – particularly the persistent unequal power relations between women and men - has thwarted real, sustainable progress.  A report by the Gender and Development Network has identified four areas in need of far greater political focus and resources: working with marginalised women to build their own agency; supporting women’s collective action; promoting positive social norms; and reassessing macro-economic policies and the role of the care economy. …

Farah Shash, a psychologist with El Nadim Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, argues that while the Mubarak regime used sexual violence against women demonstrators, the ruling political regime today is not only resorting to the same tactics, it is outdoing the previous regime by using organised groups in a systematic way. Shash shares accounts of victims who approached El Nadim Center for treatment; discusses the psychological impact of their experiences and talks about what her organisation and others are doing to seek justice for the victims. …

This chapter focuses on one of the most comprehensive, regional coalition building efforts for nationality reform and citizenship across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), the Campaign to Reform Arab Women’s Nationality (the nationality campaign). It explores the politics and dynamics of channelling voice through feminist nongovernmental organisations (NGOs), and specifically examines regional and domestic advocacy campaigns and collaborations in the Campaign to Reform Arab Women’s Nationality. …

Voicing demands is a collection of analytical narratives of what has happened to feminist voice, a key pathway to women's empowerment. These narratives depart fromthe existing debate on women's political engagement in formal institutions to examine feminist activism for building and sustaining constituencies through raising, negotiating and legitimising women's voice under different contexts. …

Cecilia M. B. Sardenberg reflects upon the experience of NEIM – the Nucleus of Interdisciplinary Women’s Studies of the Federal University of Bahia – in engaging with ‘empowerment’. NEIM has been involved in 27 years of activism in order to bring about changes, both structural as well as in women’s individual lives, towards insuring greater autonomy for women and our increasing participation in decision-making. …

The conditional cash transfer (CCT) pilot in the Cairene slum of Ain es Sira started in May 2009 and was scheduled to last for two years. The Social Research Center (SRC) of the American University in Cairo provided technical assistance to the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity (MOSS) in designing, implementing and evaluating this pilot to inform national social policy decisions. Within the pilot, 380 most vulnerable families with children were registered to participate, receiving monthly cash payments in exchange for fulfilling child development goals related to health and education. …

This special issue of 'Development' picks up some of the contentions and contestations that have accompanied the uptake of 'women's empowerment' by the development industry. Contributors reflect on their own personal and political engagement with the term and what it has come to represent. …

This project has traced how some of the most marginalised workers in Brazil came to unionise, press demands for professionalisation to the government and achieve a major policy shift. The project draws out broader lessons on how marginalised workers can gain rights, security and wellbeing, addressing the intersections of race, class and gender. …

This ongoing study has been carried out by NEIM since the 1980s, focusing on feminisms and women’s movements in Brazil. It is the study that underpins the Pathways Latin America programme, in that the feminist movement has set the stage for the specific struggles and campaigns examined in the other projects. Pathways Latin America's research has been conducted from a feminist perspective, sustaining a “liberating empowerment” approach and, as such, their primary focus is on collective action as a pathway of women’s empowerment. …

This bulletin is devoted to exploring what empowerment means in the everyday lives of women in different situations and circumstances. …

This pack of 20 vibrantly drawn cards provides a clear and very accessible entry into some of Pathways’ research findings and recommendations. The cards feature research from Bangladesh, Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, Pakistan, Palestine, and Sierra Leone, across the four Pathways themes of: conceptualising empowerment, empowering work, building constituencies and changing narratives of sexuality.  …

This bulletin is devoted to exploring what the quota has meant as a motorway to women's accession to political power. It draws on research findings from Pathways, as well as presentations given at a special seminar held in the Brazilian National Congress. The bulletin raises the questions of who are the women who are best positioned to benefit from the quota as a fast track option, what are they enabled to do once in office via the quota seats, and what kind of gender agendas does the critical mass of women who have come to power via the quota espouse and advocate? …

This bulletin arises from a conference of the same title that was held at the Institute of Development Studies in July 2007 in collaboration with Birkbeck College. It sets out to provoke reflection on the now ubiquitous notions of 'empowerment' and 'agency' within neoliberal development discourses on gender. It also seeks to raise broader questions about the politics and political economy of Gender and Development. …