| Article @ SandeshIndia | |
| PAGE 1 of 1 |
| Headline : What is women's empowerment? A new vision for micro-finance |
|
Women's empowerment is not a Northern concept. Women all over the world, including countries in the South, have been challenging and changing gender inequalities since the beginnings of history. These struggles have also been supported by many men who have been outraged at injustices against women and the consequences for society. It would be yet another instance of imperialism to say all these women and men did not have minds of their own!
The word empowerment, although it gained widespread usage in the context of the US Civil Rights and Women's Movements is an extension of earlier concepts of equality, justice and freedom which were expressed in many anti-imperialist and political struggles. These are also enshrined in international agreements and also underlie the precepts of many religious traditions, including Islam. International Women's Rights Agreements Women's rights are well-established by international agreements, notably the international Convention on Eradication of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which explicitly include women within the definition of 'human' and hence in all International Human Rights Conventions. has been ratified by most governments and underpins official gender policies of all major development agencies. Women's rights in Islam It is often argued, by some women as well as men, that these International Rights agreements are somehow 'unislamic'. This justification of inequality in terms of religious precepts, 'culture' or tradition is by no means confined to Islam. Powerful interests in most religions and cultures have refered to 'tradition' to justify maintaining gender and other inequality. Islam grants many rights to women which are currently ignored. To argue that Muslim women should not be granted their human rights is to wrongly argue that under Islam women are less than equal. This is totally against the most fundamental teachings of Islam. Implications for micro-finance: A new empowerment vision The focus on women's empowerment and micro-finance is not new, nor is it a Northern imposition. It dates back to the 1970s and the beginnings of the international women's movement. Many women's organizations worldwide set up credit and savings components as a way of both enabling women to increase their incomes and come together to address wider gender issues. All donor agencies in CGAP have a gender policy. Not only 'reaching women' but 'empowering' them is the second official goal of the MicroCredit Summit Campaign. However with increasing dominance of the 'financial sustainability paradigm' as donors have required micro-finance institutions to rapdily become financially sustainable, definitions of empowerment have become diluted to mean insignificant increases in individual income and 'self-confidence'. The current concern with poverty targeting conflates women's empowerment with household wellbeing. This is despite the overwhelming evidence of both women's own demands for gender equality and the need to overcome constraints to achieving them. What is needed is a new empowerment vision for micro-finance which places the empowerment vision firmly in the context of micro- and macro-level strategies to attain gender equality in rights, power and resources. This will enable financial service providers of different types to assess precisely what contribution their programme can make, what the gaps are and how these gaps can be addressed either through changes within the programme itself or collaboration with other agencies. |