National Discourses on Women's Empowerment: Enabling or Constraining Women's Choices

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This research project seeks to compare and contrast conceptualisations on women's empowerment in the development area, women's organisations and in cultural spheres such as the media and religion. The study, which began in September 2008 and is expected to end in January 2010 aims to take into account the mutual influences various actors have had on each other and the contradictions and consolidations that occur in these discourses. The research has been divided into the following components:

• discourses of empowerment employed by donor agencies
• discourses of empowerment among political parties and among three major NGOs in Bangladesh
• discourses on women’s empowerment in the media
• discourses of empowerment among three major women’s organizations and also the discourses around the women’s advancement policy and its recent changes.

The different concepts will be defined and analysed and we will explore how one has influenced the other. The preliminary findings will be presented back to the four groups and the expected differences between them will be used as a means of challenging the prevalent thinking and understanding better why the different communities have differences in their thinking.

Team Members        

Firdous Azim

Maheen Sultan

Sohela Nazneen
Naomi Hossain, Research Fellow, IDS