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Gender & Development

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Gender equality and women's empowerment: A

critical analysis of the third millennium development
goal 1
a
Naila Kabeer
a
Institute of Development Studies , University of Sussex
Published online: 01 Jul 2010.

To cite this article: Naila Kabeer (2005) Gender equality and women's empowerment: A critical analysis of the third
millennium development goal 1, Gender & Development, 13:1, 13-24, DOI: 10.1080/13552070512331332273

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 13

Gender equality and

women’s empowerment:
a critical analysis of the third Millennium
Development Goal1
Naila Kabeer
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This article discusses the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG), on gender equality and
women’s empowerment. It explores the concept of women’s empowerment and highlights ways in
which the indicators associated with this Goal – on education, employment, and political participation
– can contribute to it.

G
ender equality and women’s of these resources certainly has the potential
empowerment is the third of eight to bring about positive changes in women’s
MDGs. It is an intrinsic rather than lives, but, in each case, it is the social
an instrumental goal, explicitly valued as an relationships that govern access to the
end in itself rather than as an instrument for resource in question that will determine the
achieving other goals. Important as extent to which this potential is realised.
education is, the translation of this goal into Thus, in each case, there is both positive and
the target of eliminating gender disparities negative evidence about the impact of
at all levels of education within a given time women’s access to these resources on their
period is disappointingly narrow. However, lives. There are lessons to be learned from
the indicators to monitor progress in both. The article also considers some of the
achieving the goal are somewhat more wide- other ‘resources’ that have been overlooked
ranging: by the MDGs, but could be considered
equally important for the goal in question.
• closing the gender gap in education at all
levels;
Conceptualising
• increasing women’s share of wage
empowerment: agency,
employment in the non-agricultural
sector;
resources, and achievement
First, however, it is important to clarify what
• and increasing the proportion of seats
is implied by ‘empowerment’ in this article.
held by women in national parliaments.
One way of thinking about power is in terms
In this article, I interpret this as meaning that of the ability to make choices. To be
each of the three ‘resources’ implied by these disempowered means to be denied choice,
indicators – education, employment, and while empowerment refers to the processes
political participation – is considered by which those who have been denied the
essential to the achievement of gender ability to make choices acquire such an
equality and women’s empowerment. Each ability. In other words, empowerment entails

Gender and Development Vol. 13, No. 1, March 2005

 14 Gender and Development

c h a n g e. People who exercise a great deal of The concept of empowerment can be

choice in their lives may be very powerful, explored through three closely interrelated
but they are not empowered, in the sense in dimensions: agency, resources, and
which I use the term, because they were achievements. Agency represents the
never disempowered in the first place. processes by which choices are made and put
However, for there to be a real choice, into effect. It is hence central to the concept of
certain conditions must be fulfilled: empowerment. Resources are the medium
through which agency is exercised; and
• There must be alternatives – the ability to
achievements refer to the outcomes of agency.
have chosen differently. Poverty and
Below, each of these dimensions is considered
disempowerment generally go hand in
in turn, as is their interrelationship in the
hand, because an inability to meet one’s
context of empowerment.
basic needs – and the resulting depend-
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ence on powerful others to do so – rules Agency

out the capacity for meaningful choice. Agency has both positive and negative
This absence of choice is likely to affect connotations:
women and men differently, because
gender-related inequalities often • Its positive sense – the ‘power to’ – refers
intensify the effects of poverty. to people’s ability to make and act on
their own life choices, even in the face of
• Alternatives must not only exist, they others’ opposition.
must also be seen to exist. Power relations
are most effective when they are not • Its negative sense – the ‘power over’ –
perceived as such. Gender often operates refers to the capacity of some actors to
through the unquestioned acceptance of override the agency of others through,
power. Thus women who, for example, for example, the exercise of authority or
internalise their lesser claim on the use of violence and other forms of
household resources, or accept violence coercion.
at the hands of their husbands, do so However, as noted earlier, power also
because to behave otherwise is
operates in the absence of explicit forms of
considered outside the realm of
agency. Institutional bias can constrain
possibility. These forms of behaviour
people’s ability to make strategic life choices.
could be said to reflect ‘choice’, but are
Cultural or ideological norms may deny
really based on the denial of choice.
either that inequalities of power exist or that
Not all choices are equally relevant to the such inequalities are unjust. Subordinate
definition of power. Some have greater groups are likely to accept, and even collude
significance than others in terms of their with, their lot in society, if challenging this
consequences for people’s lives. Strategic life either does not appear possible or carries
choices include where to live, whether and heavy personal and social costs.
whom to marry, whether to have children, Agency in relation to empowerment,
how many children to have, who has therefore, implies not only actively
custody over children, freedom of exercising choice, but also doing this in ways
movement and association, and so on. These that challenge power relations. Because of
help to frame other choices that may be the significance of beliefs and values in
important for the quality of one’s day-to-day legitimating inequality, a process of
life, but do not constitute its defining empowerment often begins from within. It
parameters. Finally, the capacity to exercise encompasses not only ‘decision making’ and
strategic choices should not violate this other forms of observable action but also the
capacity on the part of others. meaning, motivation, and purpose that
 Gender equality and women’s empowerment 15

individuals bring to their actions; that is, women’s sense of independence, rather than
their sense of agency. Empowerment is simply meeting survival needs.
rooted in how people see themselves – their
sense of self-worth. This in turn is critically The interrelationship between agency,
bound up with how they are seen by those resources, and achievements
around them and by their society. There is a distinction, therefore, between
‘passive’ forms of agency (action taken when
Resources there is little choice), and ‘active’ agency
Resources are the medium through which (purposeful behaviour). There is also a
agency is exercised. They are distributed further important distinction between
through the various institutions and greater ‘effectiveness’ of agency, and agency
relationships in a society. In institutions, that is ‘transformative’. The former relates to
certain actors have a privileged position over women’s greater efficiency in carrying out
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others concerning how rules, norms, and their given roles and responsibilities, the
conventions are interpreted, as well as how latter to their ability to act on the restrictive
they are put into effect. Heads of households, aspects of these roles and responsibilities in
chiefs of tribes, directors of firms, managers order to challenge them. For example, in
of organisations, and elites within a India, the reduction of overall child
community all have decision-making mortality has been associated with rising
authority in particular institutions by virtue female literacy. This can be interpreted as the
of their position. The way in which resources product of ‘effective’ agency on the part of
are distributed thus depends on the ability to women in their role as mothers. However,
define priorities and enforce claims. Equally the reduction of gender disparities in under-
importantly, it defines the terms on which five mortality rates has transformative
resources are made available. If a woman’s implications, because it shows a form of
primary form of access to resources is as a agency that is acting against the grain of
dependent member of the family, her patriarchal values, which define daughters
capacity to make strategic choices is likely to as having less worth than sons.
be limited. The focus in this article is on
transformative forms of agency on the part
Achievements of women and on those achievements that
Resources and agency make up people’s suggest a greater ability on the part of poor
capabilities: that is, their potential for living women to question, analyse, and act on the
the lives they want. The term ‘achievements’ structures of patriarchal constraint in their
refers to the extent to which this potential is lives. The three dimensions that make up the
realised or fails to be realised; that is, to the concept of empowerment can be seen as
outcomes of people’s efforts. In relation to representing the pathways through which
empowerment, achievements have been these processes of empowerment can occur.
considered in terms of both the agency Changes in any one dimension can lead
exercised and its consequences. For to changes in others. For instance,
example, taking up waged work would be ‘achievements’ in one sphere of life can form
regarded by the MDGs as evidence of the basis on which women seek improve-
progress in women’s empowerment. ments in other spheres in the future. Policy
However, it would be far more likely to changes that provide women with access to
constitute such evidence if work was taken new ‘resources’ may be the result of their
up in response to a new opportunity or in collective action to achieve this change. Such
search of greater self-reliance, rather than as changes may occur over the life course of an
a ‘distress sale’ of labour. It is also far more individual or group or across generations, as
likely to be empowering if it contributes to mothers seek to give their daughters the
 16 Gender and Development

chances that they themselves never had. The immunised; educated women were more
reverse is also true. Inequalities in one likely than uneducated ones to know about
sphere are likely to get reproduced in other family planning; but only secondary-
spheres of society if they go unchallenged. schooled women revealed an in-depth
Today’s inequalities are translated into the understanding about disease and prevention.
inequalities of tomorrow as daughters Education increases the likelihood that
inherit the same discriminatory structures women will look after their own well-being
that oppressed their mothers. along with that of their family. A study in
We are, therefore, interested in rural Zimbabwe found that among the
transformative forms of agency that do not factors that increased the likelihood of
simply address immediate inequalities but women accessing contraception and
are used to initiate longer-term processes of antenatal care – both of which improve
change in the structures of patriarchy. While
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maternal survival and well-being – were

changes in the consciousness and agency of education and paid work (Becker). In rural
individual women are an important starting Nigeria, 96 per cent of women with
point for such processes, it will do little on its secondary and higher education, 53 per cent
own to undermine the systemic of those with primary education, and 47 per
reproduction of inequality. Institutional cent of those with little or no education had
transformation requires movement along a sought post-natal care.
number of fronts: from individual to There are also other effects associated
collective agency, from private negotiations with education that suggest a change in
to public action, and from the informal power relationships within and outside the
sphere to the formal arenas of struggle household. In rural Bangladesh, educated
where power is legitimately exercised. The women in rural areas participate in a wider
question then is what the three resources range of decisions than uneducated ones.
identified by MDG 3 contribute to these
Whereas the latter participated in an average
movements.
of 1.1 decisions, the number increased to 1.6,
2.0, and 2.3 among women with primary,
Access to education middle, and secondary education
respectively. A study from Tamil Nadu
The positive effects of education found that better-educated women scored
There is considerable evidence for the claim higher than less educated women on a
that access to education can bring about composite index measuring their access to,
changes in cognitive ability, which is essential and control over, resources, as well as their
to women’s capacity to question, to reflect on, role in economic decision-making.
and to act on the conditions of their lives and Educated women also appear less likely
to gain access to knowledge, information, and to suffer from domestic violence. A study by
new ideas that will help them to do so (see Sen in West Bengal noted that educated
review in Jejeebhoy 1995). This is evident in women were better able to deal with violent
everyday instances. In Kenya, it was found husbands: ‘access to secondary stages of
that women with at least four years of education may have an important
schooling were able to correctly understand contributory role in enhancing women’s
instructions for administering oral capacity to exercise control in their lives …
rehydration salts; but only those with at least through a combination of literacy and
secondary education were able to explain the numeracy skills, and enhanced self-esteem’
environmental causes of diarrhoea. In (Sen 1999, 12). Similar findings were
Nigeria, less educated women were as likely recorded in rural Bangladesh (Schuler et al.
as educated ones to have their children 1996).
 Gender equality and women’s empowerment 17

Education appears to increase women’s resourced, schools, but, even within the same
capacity to deal with the outside world, school, different groups of children are
including government officials and service treated differently. Dalit children are
providers of various kinds. In rural Nigeria, sometimes made to sit separately from others,
uneducated women preferred not to deliver are verbally abused, are used for running
in hospitals because of the treatment they menial errands, and are physically punished
received at the hands of nurses, a treatment more often than higher-caste children. There
not meted out to the more educated and self- is also evidence of widespread gender bias,
confident women who were surveyed (cited with teachers showing more attention to boys
in Jejeebhoy 1995). Finally, the exposure to and having a lower opinion of girls’ abilities.
new ideas can translate into direct collective The absence, or minority presence, of female
challenges to male prerogatives. The widely teachers is a problem in many areas.
documented anti-liquor movement
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Reinforcing the male dominance of public

mounted by members of Mahila Samakhya, services, it can act as a barrier to girls’ access to
a literacy programme for women in India, and completion of schooling.
was sparked off by images of collective Teachers in Africa also have different
action against alcoholism in their literacy attitudes towards male and female students,
primer (Niranjana 2002). on the basis that boys need careers and girls
need husbands. They tend to be dismissive
Limits to education as a route to
and discouraging towards girls and to give
empowerment
more classroom time to boys, who are
However, there are also studies that suggest
usually more demanding. Even when girls
that the changes associated with education
are encouraged to pursue a career, they are
are likely to be conditioned by the context in
which it is provided and the social expected to opt for the ‘caring’ professions,
relationships that it embodies and promotes. in other words teaching and nursing. The
In societies that are characterised by extreme ‘hidden curriculum’ of school practice
forms of gender inequality, not only is reinforces messages about girls’ inferior
women’s access to education curtailed by status on a daily basis and provides them
various restrictions on their mobility and with a negative learning experience, thus
their limited role in the wider economy, but creating a culture of low self-esteem and low
its effects may also be more limited. Where aspirations.
women’s role in society is defined purely in The less hidden content of the
reproductive terms, education is seen in educational curriculum also mirrors and
terms of equipping girls to be better wives legitimates wider social inequalities,
and mothers, or increasing their chances of denigrating physical labour (largely the
getting a suitable husband. These are preserve of poor people) and domestic
legitimate aspirations, given the realities of activities (largely the preserve of women).
the society. However, they do little to equip Gender stereotyping in the curriculum
girls and women to question the world portrays girls as passive, modest, and shy,
around them, and the subordinate status while boys are seen as assertive, brave, and
assigned to them. ambitious. This reinforces traditional gender
A second set of qualifications concerns the roles in society, and acts to limit the kinds of
relationships embodied in the delivery of futures that girls are able to imagine for
education. Social inequalities are often themselves. The design of educational
reproduced through interactions within th e curricula has not yet taken account of the fact
school system. In India, for example, not only that many more women are entering the
do the children of poor and scheduled-caste labour market around the world, making
households attend different, and differently critical contributions to household income
 18 Gender and Development

and frequently heading their own initiate or expand women’s own income-
households. Policy makers often continue to generating activities, despite the fact that
see the benefits of educating girls and these continued to be largely home-based
women in terms of improving family health (Hashemi et al. 1996; Schuler et al. 1996). A
and welfare, rather than preparing women recent survey of the impact of various
for a more equal place in the economy and in microfinance organisations (MFOs) in India
society. Women’s lack of skills partly and Bangladesh noted that longer-term
explains why they continue to be confined to membership of such groups also led to
the poorer paid and more casualised forms various categories of wider impact, including
of paid work. higher levels of political participation,
These limitations to education as a route improved access to government
to empowerment do not negate the earlier programmes, and practical skills, as well as
positive findings, but they suggest the need knowledge of the wider society, self-
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for caution in assuming that the effects of confidence in dealing with public officials,
education can be taken for granted or that and the likelihood of participating in protests
they will be uniform across all contexts. They and campaigns (Kabeer, forthcoming).
point to the various aspects of educational However, the study notes that these impacts
provision that militate against not only its depend not only on the provision of financial
empowerment potential but even its ability services of various kinds, but also on the
to attract and retain girls in school, kinds of group that MFOs promote.
particularly those from poor backgrounds.
Positive implications of wage labour in
agriculture
Access to paid work However, the most striking feature of recent
There is also a solid body of evidence to decades has been the large-scale entry of
show that access to paid work can increase women into the labour market across the
women’s agency in strategic ways. world: the ‘feminisation’ of the labour force.
The rise of non-traditional agricultural
Positive implications of self-employment export (NTAE) production in a number of
Even paid work carried out in the home has African and Latin American countries has
the potential to shift the balance of power led to a rise in wage employment for women
within the family. A detailed study of women in medium- and large-scale production
engaged in industrial homework in Mexico units. Studies suggest that this income has
City noted that in households where brought about a number of economic
women’s economic contribution was critical improvements for women themselves and
to household survival, women had been able for their families, and show that they
to negotiate a greater degree of respect exercise a considerable say in how their
(Benería and Roldán 1987). Studies of the money is spent (see, for instance, the review
impact of microcredit in societies where in Dolan and Sorby 2003). A study in
women have traditionally been excluded Ecuador found that more than 80 per cent of
from the cash economy have found that women in the flower industry managed their
women’s access to credit led to a number of own wages. Among female employees in the
positive changes in women’s own Kenyan vegetable industry, single women
perceptions of themselves, and their role in managed and controlled their own wages,
household decision making (Kabeer 2001; while married women usually managed
Kabeer forthcoming). It also led to a long- their incomes jointly with husbands.
term reduction in domestic violence, as well There is also significant evidence from
as an increase in women’s assets. Such effects the vegetable industries of Guatemala and
were stronger when these loans were used to the Dominican Republic, and the flower
 Gender equality and women’s empowerment 19

industry of Mexico, that women’s Bangladesh, women in Turkey had

participation in wage employment has led to previously been permitted to work outside
greater independence in household decision the home only if it was necessary for family
making. In some cases, as among women survival. In a study of the clothing industry,
working in the fresh vegetable industry in however, many of those interviewed no
the Dominican Republic, it has allowed them longer saw their work as subordinate to their
to escape abusive marriages. Women familial roles, to be abandoned when they
working in the flower industry in Colombia got married or had children. Rather, they
reported widening their social networks in saw it as a more permanent way of life. The
ways that would otherwise have proved overwhelming majority had made their own
difficult in rural areas. Workers in the fresh decision to enter factory work, giving as
vegetable industry in Kenya not only their reasons their desire to make use of their
reported greater economic independence,
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skills and to be outside the home. Forty per

but also new opportunities for meeting with cent of the workers, who were mainly young
women from other parts of the country. single women, indicated their preference to
work a considerable distance from home in
Positive implications of non-agricultural
order to escape the control exercised by their
wage labour
family and neighbours. They wanted to
Evidence of changes in women’s life chances
work somewhere where they could move
as a result of entry into waged work appears
about freely during their lunch breaks and
to be more marked when it occurs in the non-
take the opportunity to meet their friends,
agricultural sector (see the review of
including boyfriends.
literature in Kabeer, forthcoming). This is
A study of women workers in export
partly because such employment is
generally associated with migration by manufacturing jobs in the Philippines found
women out of rural areas and away from the that most of them earned at least as much as –
patriarchal controls of kinship and and many earned more than – the legal
community. In a country where women had minimum wage, and they also enjoyed more
previously been denied public forms of benefits than in alternative forms of
employment, women workers in the export employment. They had the opportunity to
garment industry in Bangladesh expressed delay marriage and childbirth, and the scope
their satisfaction at having a ‘proper’ job and for personal independence and self-
regular wages, compared with the casual, determination that comes with relatively high
poorly paid forms of employment that had wages and relatively stable employment
previously been their only options. Many (compared with work in the informal
had used their new-found earning power to economy). While factory employment may
renegotiate their relations within marriage, not provide much satisfaction in itself, it was
others to leave abusive marriages. Women suggested that it could gradually lead to
who had previously not been able to help out positive changes in women’s personal and
their ageing parents once they got married household circumstances.
now insisted on their right to do so. Yet In China, young, single women migrate
others used their earnings to postpone early from the countryside to live and work in the
marriage and to challenge the practice of export-processing zones in the south. Such
dowry. In addition, they valued the new jobs are fiercely competed for in the country-
social networks that they were able to build side, because they are more remunerative
with their co-workers, and the greater sense than agricultural work. Moreover, many
of independence they now enjoyed. women previously worked on family farms
Similarly positive evaluations are where they never received an independent
reported in a number of other studies. As in wage. Young women wanted to earn money,
 20 Gender and Development

not only to help their families but also to buy Honduras, for example, were more likely to
things for themselves without having to report a health problem in the previous
account to someone for whatever they spent. month than those who had been working
Others used their earnings to meet the elsewhere, and they had less leisure. Studies
demand for repayment of bride price or from Vietnam and Bangladesh both found
child support by husbands whom they long hours of work in the same position to be
wished to divorce. the major source of complaint among
In Honduras, women working in women workers in the export sector,
maquiladoras (assembling manufactured together with various ailments associated
goods for export) earned higher wages than with this.
workers elsewhere, and they reported Moreover, not all studies report positive
improvements in household relationships findings concerning women’s capacity to
and help in domestic work from male
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have greater control over their lives. Many

members. They were more likely to have women who leave rural areas to take up jobs
voted in elections and more likely to feel that in towns, in order to make new friends and
they carried some weight with the build a life for themselves, do not have time
government. These trends became stronger to take up such opportunities. The division
over time. This may explain why, while most of labour in domestic chores and child care is
workers wanted to see improvements, rarely renegotiated between the sexes.
especially in their wages, 96 per cent Despite their increased labour input into
reported that they were very (49 per cent) or paid work, women (particularly married
somewhat (47 per cent) satisfied with their women) either continue to bear the main
jobs. Similarly, married women workers in burden of domestic work, or share it with
export-oriented manufacturing factories in a other female members of the household –
number of Caribbean countries reported often their daughters. By and large, gender
improvements in household relations as a
inequalities in work burdens appear to be
result of their greater economic
intensified. Despite the collective nature of
contributions, with greater sharing of
their work, women workers in these sectors
decision making with male partners.
are either forbidden to unionise or find it
The limits to empowerment through paid difficult to do so.
work Moreover, despite the visibility of
On the other hand, most of these studies also export-oriented waged employment in
highlight the exploitative conditions of work agriculture and industry, the vast majority of
in which women are generally found. The women in low-income countries continue to
greatest attention has been paid to women work in the informal economy in various
who work in the agro and manufacturing forms of economic activities that may or may
industries, which seek to compete not be affected by global markets, but are
internationally through the promotion of characterised by far worse conditions.
flexible labour practices. Export-oriented Within this informal economy, poorer
manufacturing is associated with extremely women are concentrated in the most
long hours of work during busy seasons, casualised forms of waged labour, and low-
often combined with lay-offs in the slack value own-account enterprises. It is difficult
season, and poor conditions. In China, most to see how earnings generated by sex work,
women from the localities in which these domestic service, or daily labour on
industries are based shunned such work if construction sites – which is where the
they could find employment with higher poorest women are likely to be found – will
status or that was less tedious. There are also do much to improve women’s subordinate
health hazards. Maquila workers in status at home or at work.
 Gender equality and women’s empowerment 21

Political representation selection; and identify relevant policy

concerns. Most important, is the political
The last of the indicators for monitoring culture in which parties operate and the
progress on gender equality and women’s extent to which it is conducive to the
empowerment relates to the number of seats
promotion of women’s involvement in
held by women in national parliaments. It politics: the strength or weakness of
moves the focus of empowerment into the
patriarchal ideology, the existence of
arena of politics, and the struggle for
pluralist forms of organisation, the degree of
participation and representation in decision-
religious opposition to gender reforms.
making structures.
Electoral systems are also important. The
Positive effects of national ones more likely to bring women into
representation political office are those where more than one
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As half of the population, women are clearly person can represent a constituency; those
entitled to at least half the seats in that have multiple parties competing for
parliament. Such an achievement could, votes; and those that practise proportional
with certain qualifications, represent the representation (PR) in party lists.
most ambitious of the three forms of change Those less likely to do so are majoritarian
singled out to measure progress on women’s systems which create the incentive to field a
empowerment and could have the greatest single candidate per constituency and appeal
potential for transformation. Furthermore, to the majority, rather than accommodating
again with certain qualifications, it could diversity. A review of 53 legislatures in 1999
potentially address many of the constraints found that national assemblies in PR systems
that limit the life chances of poor women. had nearly 24 per cent of women, compared
However, because these qualifications with 11 per cent in majoritarian systems. In
relate to the same constraints that have almost every case where women exceed 15
prevented women from all social classes and per cent of elected representative bodies, this
groups from having a ‘strategic presence’ in has been the result of special measures that
national parliaments, it is also the form of accord positive advantage to female
social change least likely to be achieved in candidates: Mozambique has 30 per cent
the near future. A review of the relevant female parliamentarians, while South Africa
statistics suggests that, regardless of political has 29 per cent. Bangladesh, Burkina Faso,
systems, the proportion of women in India, Tanzania, and Uganda all have
national parliaments around the world is reserved seats for women in national or local
extremely low, averaging 13.8 per cent in government.
2000 (Goetz 2003). This is an extraordinary The way that quotas are applied makes a
under-representation of women in the difference to whether the presence of women
highest structures of governance in their is ‘token’ or a legitimate form of
countries. Various forms of bias in the representation. Where, as in Bangladesh,
institutions of civil society and the political women’s seats were filled by the party in
sphere – more so than conscious power, they simply became an additional vote
discrimination – operate to exclude women, bank for the ruling regime. In South Africa, on
including women from privileged elites. the other hand, there have been attempts by
The structure of the political sphere the women’s movement to encourage
makes a difference to how many women are members from within their ranks to enter
fielded as candidates and how many win. politics. A woman MP there was active in
This includes the extent to which political initiating the process of examining national
parties have taken institutional root in budgets from a gender perspective; and the
society; have clear rules about candidate Women’s Budget Initiative, established in
 22 Gender and Development

1995, brought together parliamentarians and that many of the elected women were
NGOs to scrutinise the allocation of public gaining self-confidence. They questioned the
resources (Budlender, Hicks, and Vetten priorities of panchayat (local government)
2002). development programmes, emphasised
At the same time, it should be noted that, issues affecting women such as fuel and
at present, the women who enter national water, and had begun to build broad
parliaments are not generally drawn from alliances among themselves. One study
the ranks of poor people, nor is there any showed that women representatives were
guarantee that they will be more responsive likely to allocate resources differently from
to the needs and priorities of poor women men, suggesting that their presence allowed
than many men in parliament. a different set of priorities to be expressed.

Positive effects of local government

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There is some debate about whether greater Building citizenship from

participation and influence in local the grassroots
government structures are more relevant
It is clear that each of the resources in
goals for poor women than increasing
question had the potential to bring about the
women’s seats in national parliament s. The
former, after all, make the decisions that kinds of change that could lead to
most directly affect the lives of poor people. renegotiations of the boundaries between
In recognition of this, a number of states in public and private life, to collective forms of
India, where there is now 33 per cent struggle, and to women’s greater represent-
reservation of seats for women in local ation in the structures of decision making.
government, have added further induce- Together, they could also provide the basis
ments to local communities to encourage on which women could organise to address
women’s participation. Madhya Pradesh the other aspects of the patriarchal structures
and Kerala, for example, require that one- on which the MDGs are silent: reproductive
third of participants in the regular open rights, violence against women, unjust laws,
village meetings are female before there is and so on. However, it is also clear that there
considered to be a quorum. Kerala also are likely to be powerful forces, some within
allocates 10 per cent of development funds the policy domain itself, that will militate
received by local councils from the state to be against this happening. It is only through the
used for ‘women’s development’ and to be mobilisation of women, particularly poor
managed by representatives of female women, who are primary stakeholders in all
groups of the village assembly. of the MDGs, but particularly the MDG on
Clearly, all these measures, including the women’s empowerment, that policy makers
reservation policy itself, are open to abuse. can be held accountable to ensure that the
There has been much discussion in India MDGs are followed through in the spirit of
about the possibility that women are merely the international movements and meetings
proxies for husbands or powerful men that gave rise to them. Yet it is precisely this
within their family or caste. Objections are that is missing from the letter and spirit of the
raised on the grounds that only supporters MDGs. The vision and values of women’s
of parties in power attend village meetings; groups and organisations across the world
or that women are being harassed to spend have been translated into a series of technical
funds in ways that do not benefit poorer goals, to be implemented mainly by the very
women. While these are valid concerns, they actors and institutions that have blocked
may also alter over time, as w omen become their realisation in the past.
more experienced in the political arena. If the vision and values that gave rise to
Studies from India, for example, showed the demand for gender equality and
 Gender equality and women’s empowerment 23

women’s empowerment in the first place are Conclusion

to be restored to MDG 3, then those with
Gender relations, like all social relations, are
most at stake in its implementation in
multi-stranded: they embody ideas, values,
accordance with this spirit must be in a
and identities; they allocate labour between
position to participate in the processes by
different tasks, activities, and domains; they
which it is translated into objectives,
determine the distribution of resources; and
activities, and outcomes. This is most likely they assign authority, agency, and decision-
to happen if the women in question, together making power. This means that gender
with their allies in government and civil inequalities are multi-dimensional and
society, are mobilised to participate in these cannot be reduced to some single and
processes. Sometimes such mobilisations universally agreed set of priorities. Any
have begun to occur because of the nature of attempt to do so will run the danger of being
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certain activities. We have noted the way in either too narrow (as the MDGs have been
which microfinance can provide the basis for accused of being) or a wish list that is too
building women’s capacity for collective long and complex to act on. However,
action. We have also noted how such action gender relationships are not internally
can spill over into the political sphere, not cohesive. They contain contradictions and
simply in the form of voting, but also in imbalances, particularly when there have
interactions with locally represented been changes in the wider socio-economic
officials and participation in protests. We are environment. Consequently, a shift in one
also seeing evidence of greater willingness aspect of social relations can initiate a series
on the part of women workers to challenge of changes in other aspects, with
unpredictable consequences. To that extent,
their employers and the state through
it could be argued that each of the three
organisations such as SEWA (Self-Employed
indicators embodied in MDG 3 has the
Women’s Association) and Mahila
potential to make a difference. Each can
Samakhya in India, and Kormojibi Nari and
bring about immediate changes with longer-
Nijera Kori in Bangladesh. We have seen the
term consequences. Indeed, the same could
innovation of Women’s Budget Initiatives in be said of any set of policies that seeks to
a number of countries, not simply as a improve women’s access to resources. Some
technical exercise but as a way of learning may be more strategic than others, but all
more about how governance structures have transformatory potential as long as the
function and how resources are raised and change in question is a genuine expansion of
allocated. It is through the mobilisation of women’s choices, rather than a token gesture
women as women but also as workers, of paternalist benevolence.
mothers, and citizens that the international However, what this article has also
community can ensure that the MDGs speak argued that unless provision is made to
to the needs and interests of half of the ensure that policy changes are implemented
world’s population. Building this collective in ways that allow women themselves to
capacity of women in all spheres of life to participate, to monitor, and to hold policy
participate and to hold authorities makers, corporations, and other relevant
accountable is thus the only basis on which actors accountable for their actions, this
the world’s policy makers can keep the potential is unlikely to be realised. Women’s
promises that they have made on the issue of access to education may improve their
chances of a good marriage or their capacity
gender equality.
to sign their names on a document, but
unless it also provides them with the
analytical capa city and courage to question
 24 Gender and Development

unjust practices, its potential for change will Africa: expanding into diverse initiatives’ in
be limited. Women’s access to paid work Gender Budgets Make More Cents, London:
may give them a greater sense of self- Commonwealth Secretariat
Dolan, C.S. and K. Sorby (2003) Gender and
reliance and greater purchasing power, but
Employment in High Value Agriculture Industries,
if it is undertaken in conditions that erode
Agriculture and Rural Development Working
their health and exploit their labour, its costs
Paper series, no. 7, Washington DC: World Bank
may outweigh its benefits. Women’s Goetz, A.-M. (2003) ‘Women’s political effectiveness
presence in the governance structures of – a conceptual framework’, in A.-M. Goetz and
society clearly carries the potential to change S. Hassim (eds.) No Shortcuts to Power: African
unjust practices, but if the women in Women in Politics and Policy Making, London: Zed
question are drawn from a narrow elite, if Books
they have been invited rather than elected, Hashemi, S.M., S.R. Schuler, and A.P. Riley (1996)
and if they have no grassroots constituency ‘Rural credit programs and women’s
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to represent and answer to, their presence empowerment in Bangladesh’, World

Development 24(4): 635–53
will be only a token one.
Jejeebhoy, S. (1995) Women’s Education, Autonomy,
The question, therefore, is to what extent
and Reproductive Behaviour: Experience from
the international community is prepared to
Developing Countries, Oxford: Clarendon Press
provide support to women at the grassroots Kabeer, N. (1999) ‘Resources, agency, achievements:
– support which will ensure that they have reflections on the measurement of women’s
the collective capabilities necessary to play empowerment’, Development and Change 30(3):
this role. 435–64
Kabeer, N. (2001) ‘Conflicts over credit: re-
Naila Kabeer is Professorial Fellow at the evaluating the empowerment potential of loans
Institute of Development Studies, University of to women in rural Bangladesh’, World
Sussex. She can be contacted at Development 29(1): 63–84
Kabeer, N. (forthcoming) ‘From social exclusion to
[email protected]
citizenship: wider social impacts of
microfinance’, in J. Copestake, M. Greeley, N.
Note Kabeer, S. Johnson, and A. Simanowitz (eds.)
Money With A Mission. Microfinance and Poverty
1 This article is an edited version of a chapter in
Reduction, Rugby: ITDG Publications
Gender Mainstreaming in Poverty Eradication and the
Niranjana, S. (2002) ‘Exploring gender inflections
Millennium Development Goals: A Handbook for
within Panchayat Raj institutions. Women’s
Policy-makers and Other Stakeholders, by Naila
politicisation in Andhra Pradesh’ in K. Kapadia
Kabeer, published by the Commonwealth
(ed.) The Violence of Development. The Politics of
Secretariat, London, in 2003.
Identity, Gender and Social Inequalities in India,
New Delhi: Kali for Women
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