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Gender-Responsive Plant Breeding Course, Part 1

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Women’s empowerment: Introduction and issues in agricultural development

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Learning Objectives

Session learning objectives

Introduce the concept of women’s empowerment and its dimensions in the context of agricultural development
Enable participants to reflect on their projects and programmes in relation to women empowerment

Contributing to the following GREAT Course learning objectives

Demonstrated positive practice and value for gender responsive research
Able to conceptualise, design and plan appropriate gender-responsive research

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Explaining the term ‘empowerment’

Empowerment is the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such ability, and transform those choices into desired actions and outcomes (Kabeer,1999; Narayan 2015)

It is about expanding women’s assets and capabilities to participate in, negotiate with, influence, control and hold accountable the institutions that affect their lives (Narayan 2015)

It is both a process and an outcome
It is a process of change

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Women’s empowerment is about expanding women’s assets and capabilities to participate in, negotiate with, influence, control and hold accountable the institutions that affect their lives (Narayan 2015). It is the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make choices acquire such ability (Kabeer,1999)

As an outcome, it concerns the degree of freedom women and girls have to control and influence their lives and futures. As a process, it highlights the change that is required for empowerment to be a reality. It is through experiencing, undertaking and directing empowerment processes that women and girls expand their aspirations, strengthen their voice, exercise more choice and take more control over their lives and futures (Eerdewijk, Wong,Vaast,Newton, Tyszler &Pennington,2017)

Empowerment of women and girls is the expansion of choice and strengthening of voice through the transformation of power relations, so women and girls have more control over their lives and futures. Expansion of choice is prominent in many mainstream development approaches to women and girls’ empowerment. This is especially true where change at the individual level is emphasised, for example through entrepreneurship. Though not explicitly articulated in many mainstream development approaches, the strengthening of voice also merits a central place in defining empowerment. Expanding women and girls’ choice and voice engages directly with how power operates in their lives. It is not possible to talk about empowerment without talking about power. Power relations shape disempowerment and disadvantage of women and girls, as well as their opportunities and well-being (Eerdewijk, Wong,Vaast,Newton, Tyszler &Pennington,2017)

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Explaining the term ‘empowerment’, cont’d

Empowerment challenges disempowerment and entails the transformation of power relations
Empowerment becomes transformative when it challenges constraints to agency and tackles systemic constraints to women and girls’ ability to exercise choice and voice
Transformation of power relations occurs when women and girls exercise their agency and take action.

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Empowerment is a bottom-up process that cannot be ‘done for’ or ‘done to’ someone. Nor can it be imposed on women and girls in a top-down manner.

The expansion of choice concerns the ability of women and girls to make and influence choices that affect their lives and futures through;

An expanding repertoire of options and opportunities to choose from; imagining possible choices that were previously unimaginable; and

Transforming choices into actions and outcomes (Eerdewijk, Wong,Vaast,Newton, Tyszler &Pennington, 2017)

The strengthening of women and girls’ voice concerns the capacity of women and girls to speak up and be heard, and to shape and share in discussions and decisions—in public and private domains—that affect their lives and futures. This entails: Establishing a presence and participating in, negotiating with and influencing decision-making processes in household, community, market and state arenas; and Enabling women and girls to voice their demand for change, through leadership and collective organising, to pursue the interests and needs of women and girls (Eerdewijk, Wong,Vaast,Newton, Tyszler &Pennington, 2017)

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Disempowerment and gender inequality manifest through:

Unequal distribution of resources
Low self-esteem
Biased laws and policies
Discriminatory gender norms and practices

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Women and girls’ disempowerment is due to:

Gender relations of power embedded in patriarchal and gender ideologies of male dominance and privilege
It is only when the failure to achieve one’s goals reflects some deep-seated constraints on the ability to choose that it can be taken as a manifestation of disempowerment (Kabeer,1999)

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Key dimensions of women’s empowerment

Resources
Agency
Achievements

(Kabeer,1999)

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Resources

Include: Productive, social and human resources
Access and ownership of resources is often influenced by the rules and norms that govern their distribution and exchange in different institutional arenas
Rules and norms give certain actors authority over others – to determine the principles of distribution and exchange
HH heads, elites, chiefs often endowed with decision making authority and resources e.g income, land etc

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Agency

The ability to define one’s goals and act upon them
Relates to power: power within, power to and power over

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Power within

Includes processes of decision making

Involves bargaining/negotiation, deception and manipulation, subversion and resistances

Can be exercised by individuals and collectives

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Power to

Women’s capacity to define their own choices and pursue their own goals, even in the face to opposition from others

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Power over

The capacity of individuals to over-ride the agency of others e.g through violence coercion and threat

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Achievements

Concerned with well being outcomes

Proper nourishment, good health, adequate shelter are universally valued (basic wellbeing achievements)
Considerations should go beyond the basics to:
Life expectancy
Political representation
Ownership of household resources
Decision-making power
Norms associated with child preference (boys vs girls)
Behaviours of oppression (e.g mothers in law vs daughters in law) etc
Self esteem

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Exercise 1: A reflection on team projects in relation to the dimensions of women’s empowerment

Reflect on your own research project and identify potential ways it may contribute to different dimensions of women’s empowerment (resources, agency and achievement)
Discuss by team and share in plenary

10 minutes

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Issues of women empowerment in agricultural research/programmes

Targeting

Agricultural development projects often target men despite evidence that women are heavily involved in agriculture
Considering women’s needs during project design is important

Women involvement

Involvement of women at all levels
Understanding women’s challenges to participation critical

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Issues of women empowerment in agricultural research/programmes…

A focus on equitable and empowering outcomes through project activities

Understanding women’s challenges to project benefits

Empowering women creates a positive impact on development and benefits women, families and society - win-win situation

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Reach, Benefit and Empowerment Approach (Meinzen-Dick, et. al.,2017)

Insert the figure on Reach, Benefit and Empowerment Approach by Meinzen-Disck et al, 2017

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Reach

The ability of men and women to take advantage of opportunities associated with ‘reach’ activities is not equivalent

For projects to reach women e.g in meetings and trainings, the following should be considered in favour for women;
Choice of the location
Time of the day
Culturally acceptable setting matter
Consider women’s schedule and workload

Projects designed with women’s needs and constraints in mind may be more effective at benefiting them

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Reach…

Simply reaching women (e.g. including women in meetings or trainings) does not ensure benefitting from the project

However, reaching women is usually a necessary first step to benefits or empowerment

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Benefit�

Including women in training events may lead to benefits e.g improved productivity in agriculture;

Women may also benefit through increased income or better nutrition though it does not guarantee their empowerment

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Empowerment

Empowerment happens when change/transformation occurs e.g

When women are in control of their income
Women are able to make choices e.g foods for their households, mobility or number of children

Both reach and benefits may initiate the process of empowerment e.g

Women’s increased contribution to household agricultural productivity may lead to their empowerment
Participating in project meetings may allow women to meet others and form empowering social networks

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More examples

Women’s access to fertilizer - Reach
Increased crop productivity - Benefit
Women having a stronger voice in decision making or claim on the produce or income – Empowerment

Participants add more examples

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Exercise 2: Reach, Benefit and Empower – Sharing experiences

Who has an example of a strategy that is best classified as “reach”?
Who has an example of a strategy that is best classified as “benefit”?
Who has an example of a strategy that is best classified as “empowering”?
Did anyone come up with something they would want to change?

Participants share in plenary

15 mins

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Thank you!

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