Pathways
Conceptualising Empowerment - A Look at Public Policy for Women in Brazil
2007 - 2011
Lead Researcher: Marcia Macedo
Researcher: Jamile Carvalho
This Project aimed to identify and analyse conceptualisations of empowerment in Brazil underlying public policies for women. The project looked, in particular, at the Pro Gender Equality Programme (Programa Pró-Eqüidade de Gênero) that is being implemented by the Secretariat for Public Policies for Women. Besides taking part in meetings and activities related to the Programme, the team also carried out a case study on one of the member organisations.
Resources For This Project
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Conceptualizing Empowerment: A Look At Public Policy For Women In Brazil
The debate on women's empowerment in Brazil focuses primarily on the difficulty of articulating consensus around issues regarding gender equity. This is especially true regarding the formulation of strategic policies for the eradication of inequality through enlarging women's access to resources and political power. For many Brazilian feminists, “empowerment” is directly associated with international development agencies such as the World Bank. Thus it is seen as a “de-politicized” term imposed by theoretical and political “fashion” and alien to the objectives of real change toward a more equitable society. …
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Liberal Vs Liberating Empowerment: A Latin American Feminist Perspective. Pathways Working Paper 7
The term ‘women’s empowerment’ is viewed with a certain amount of distrust by feminists in Latin America. There has been some ambiguity surrounding the term in the region and in some cases it has been appropriated to legitimize actions that may not actually empower. This paper reflects on feminist conceptualisations of empowerment and how the process is believed to unfold. It outlines two basic approaches to conceptualising empowerment: ‘liberal’ and ‘liberating’ empowerment. …
