Slide Empowerment means o the ability to provide a meaning to the status that women are entitled to, based on gender based approach. o the ability to make a voice for them and create a situation in which others listen to it or pay their attention to it. o The ability to control their life. o the ability to make influence on the decisions which affect the whole society and have the ability to make representations on behalf of their group in taking such decisions. o The right to be recognized as an equal human being, citizen, to receive respect and the right to make an equal contribution to the development process and the power or ability to get opportunities Source: Griffin, Vanessa (ed.) (1987) Women, Development and Empowerment: A Pacific Feminist Perspective, Kuala Lumpur: Asian and Pacific Development Centre. • 48 All these definitions lead to the common meaning that providing power or ability to a person or group who have less or no power is called “empowerment”. • Discuss as a presentation. o The word empowerment has been very popular in the dialogue on “development” since 1990s. The term is used in regard to especially the disadvantaged groups/ women in developing countries. Accordingly the common theme of the word empowerment is power. It is accepted here that all factors such as personal lives, experiences, sentiments, personal activities, the manner in which social institutions and structures have been formed are based on power. (Kabeer, 1994) o Women are considered as persons who have less power when compared with men and empowerment expects to build self confidence in them in regard to their power, reject traditional power relationships and effect a change in the lives of females as well as social relationships and structures through it. o In the initial dialogue on power attention was paid only to approach of “control”. The ability or control over implementing the decision of one person on another person without paying consideration to his rejection of it has been defined as power. (Weber 1978) This is considered as coercive power or autocratic power which is spread by one person on another person (power to power). However this is defined as an extensive meaning in the modern dialogue on power. o Even though women have not precisely understood the power that they have within them, building self confidence in them in regard to the power which has been concealed in them so far and building up the ability in them to obtain power analytically questioning the existing the situation and challenging it, is called empowerment of power within.