Conceptualizing Empowerment

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The theme Conceptualizing Empowerment under the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Research Programme investigates conceptions of empowerment and change that is employed by institutions in the public sphere and as is understood by ordinary people themselves.  The research in this theme encompass substantive empirical as well as conceptual work on measuring and understanding empowerment and change in women’s lives and contextualising meanings and practices of empowerment in our region. This area of research is important because it helps to deepen understanding about the complex nature of empowerment and the situated as well as universal meanings that the process may entail.

The research projects undertaken in this theme seek to portray the lived realities and struggles of ordinary women and the different discourses of empowerment prevalent in national arena. These include:

• National Discourses on Women's Empowerment: Enabling or Constraining Women's Choices
• Digital Story-Telling (on-going)
• Stories of Change Film and Film Tour (completed)