Search

Background: Community health agents (CHAs) provide basic health services and increase health care access thereby improving health outcomes for peri-urban regions in Peru. Few studies analyze the effect that becoming a CHA has on women's interpersonal interactions. We aim to explore the impact CHAs may have on gender and social norms through their roles as trusted leaders in male-dominated communities. Methods: We conducted six 90-minute group discussions with CHAs working in Huancayo and Trujillo, Peru. We designed the discussions to extract data about family and community norms that changed as a result of working as a CHA. Results: A total of 53 female CHAs participated in six discussion groups. CHAs reported shifting family support (a change in how their family supported them in their role as a CHA), gaining status within their family (feeling more valued for their knowledge and experience), and shifting family gender roles (men and boys taking on more household responsibilities) as a result of their work. CHAs also reported a change in community norms and felt they were more valued and respected within their communities as women leaders. Conclusions: Working as a CHA creates an opportunity to enact social change through altering family dynamics and community perceptions. Moreover, empowering women to become CHAs not only generates tangible benefits in community health, but can help create social change that ultimately improves the lives of women and realize their human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Rwanda stands out in East Africa with the lowest infant mortality ratio at 29 per 1000 live births. It also leads in gender equality on the African continent, ranking sixth globally according to the 2022 Global Gender Gap Report. This makes Rwanda an ideal case for studying the link between women's empowerment and infant mortality. Method: This study aims to assess the impact of women's empowerment on infant mortality using data obtained from the Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey conducted in 2005, 2010, and 2015. A three-category women's empowerment index was created using the principal component analysis method. The statistical analysis employed in this study is multivariate binary logistic regression. Results: Results demonstrate a significant impact of women's empowerment on reducing infant mortality, considering regional and residential inequalities, bio-demographic factors, and healthcare variables. Conclusion: The findings contribute to existing literature and highlight the importance of empowering women to improve maternal and child health outcomes. Such empowerment not only enhances health but also supports sustainable development and social progress. Policymakers, healthcare providers, and organizations should prioritize investing in women's empowerment to achieve maternal and child health goals, as empowered women play a pivotal role in driving positive change for a healthier and more equitable society. Significance: This study highlights the critical importance of women's empowerment in improving infant survival rates and promoting population health in Rwanda. The study is significant due to the country's low infant mortality rate and leading position in gender equality in Africa. By demonstrating the strong association between women's empowerment and infant mortality, the findings highlight the need for ongoing efforts to empower women and ensure equitable access to healthcare services for all. This research provides valuable insights that can inform policies and programs aimed at reducing infant mortality and enhancing the well-being of both women and children in Rwanda and similar contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In alignment with the sustainability strategy focusing on good governance, sustainable development, and racial harmony, this study investigates the access, use, and effects of ICT training on women in Sarawak. Its primary objective is to assess how ICT training benefits women in managing small homebased businesses. Data was gathered through questionnaires from 62 participants who attended training sessions in various Sarawak locations: Kota Samarahan, Sri Aman, Sarikei, Kuching, and Bako. This research holds significant importance for the state government, as it strives to increase the number of individuals with ICT skills and narrow the digital divide between urban and rural areas. The study reveals a strong consensus among respondents regarding the positive impact of ICT on empowering women, boosting their self-esteem, enriching their knowledge and skills, benefiting the socio-economic community, and fostering efficient management practices. The findings offer valuable insights into the effectiveness of ICT training for Sarawakian women engaged in home-based businesses. The mean scores for all variables indicate high agreement among respondents, with values exceeding four for each variable. This study underscores the substantial role of ICT in knowledge dissemination and empowering individuals, particularly in advancing gender equality. It suggests that ICT is an invaluable tool for successful training in rural areas and underscores the need for a systematic strategy to enhance ICT literacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women's empowerment is fundamental for realizing unalienable human rights and is vital to sustainable development outcomes. In India, the SWABHIMAAN intervention program was an integrated multi-sectoral strategy to improve girls' and women's nutrition before conception, during pregnancy, and after childbirth. This study assesses the role of self-help-group (SHGs) in improving the effectiveness of community health interventions and its impact on their self-empowerment. Qualitative data gathered through in-depth interviews (IDI) with community-based SHG members involved as Nutrition Friend (Poshan Sakhi-PS) in the SWABHIMAAN program in 2018 was used for analysis. Informed consent procedures were followed, and only those who voluntarily consented to the interview were interviewed. Twenty-five IDIs of purposively selected PSs in three states (Bihar, n = 9; Chhattisgarh, n = 8; and Odisha, n = 8) were analyzed thematically, according to Braun & Clarke (2006). NVivo 12 software was used for organizing and coding data. Three central themes that emerged to explain women's empowerment were (1) Barriers & redressal mechanisms adopted by PS, (2) PS as a change-maker, and (3) Changes in the life of PS. The study found that women perceive themselves as more empowered through involvement in the SWABHIMAN intervention program, besides improving the community's and their households' nutritional status. The results suggest that policies and programs on health and nutrition interventions need to involve peer women from the community, leading to more effective outcomes. Empowering women and closing gender gaps in employment/work are critical to achieving the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To what extent is the EU projecting democratic norms in the area of gender? Gender equality and women's empowerment have been at the heart of the EU's external action since the Arab uprisings. This article is an in-depth study of how the EU interacts with non-state actors in practice, and beyond the recipient-donor relationship, in the format of tripartite dialogue whereby the EU, civil society and the Tunisian government consult each other before any major EU meeting. First, this article reviews what EU democracy projection involves in the field of gender equality. Then it offers a mapping of the local, active participants on feminism and gender equality. Third, the article focuses on an innovative practice of trust-building, that of the gender sub-group of the tripartite dialogue. The main argument is that the dialogue has provided a new venue to project trust-building practices that are central to the consolidation of democracy. Yet this practice is weakened by the lack of considerations of major divides around gender in Tunisian society. Interaction on democratic norms thus remains secluded to a very selective venue. Democracy projection is, however, not fully 'transversal' as the Islamist-secularist cleavage, socioeconomic inequalities and divides of the rural peripheries constrain the impact of the tripartite dialogue and subsequent democracy projection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Women's Working Group of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples' Mechanism (CSM) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) has long advocated for policies reflective of gender equity in agriculture and food systems rooted in agroecology, human rights, and food sovereignty. In 2021, after years of activism, a series of drafts toward a set of Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment were produced by the CFS. With contributions from members of the CSM and La Via Campesina, we provide insights into the struggles, critiques, and paths forward for continued engagement with the CFS on this heavily politicized topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increasing concern about gender equity in the U.S., song lyrics with political activism are receiving more attention. As reflected through lyrics and the artist's tumultuous life events, 'thank u, next,' Ariana Grande's fifth album, has been reviewed by media outlets, such as Billboard as mirroring Grande's public persona of self-empowerment. iTunes (2019) describes the album as Grande's embraced position of – 'complex, independent, tenacious and flawed.' This study investigates how these claims came about by adopting Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis three-dimensional framework. It examines how the discourse of self-empowerment is portrayed in her lyrics, and what linguistic strategies are deployed to portray the discourse. This study hopes to add texture to existing literature by examining the production of young women's empowerment ideology and the meanings of neoliberal feminism in relations to the use of language in song lyrics. Linguistic strategies such as the use of metaphors, overstatements and presupposition manipulation have been investigated through textual, and social analyses of the songs to demonstrate the ideological concepts of a 'self-empowered woman'. The concepts found include independence, self-love/growth, owning of sexuality, and being needy. The concepts also revealed that Grande's lyrics mostly support ideals of gender equity and female empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

" Special Issue: Gender Issues in Institutions of Higher Learning: 50 Years of Gender Debates at the University of Dar es Salaam." This book provides interesting insights into the continuity and change between pre-digital and digital media gender representations in Africa, especially in Kiswahili media, and oral and written literature. She provides the reader with useful information and challenging arguments regarding Kenyan media representation of women, gender and sexuality. I Women, Visibility and Morality in Kenyan Popular Media i examines constructions of femininity in Kenyan popular media and how these constructions engage with morality, sexuality and gender. [Extracted from the article]

This article analyses discussions of gender equality, women's empowerment, and women's rights in the United Nations Committee for World Food Security (CFS). This article analyses how gender inequality has been understood and addressed by different constituencies in the reformed CFS and finds that there has been a push to challenge empowerment discourses by instead emphasizing women's rights. These efforts to advance women's rights in the context of food security and nutrition includes calling for attention to systemic economic, political and cultural inequalities and a repoliticization of gender inequality. This article highlights these debates about gender inequality, reflects on the broader implications for food system governance, and poses new questions for feminist scholars of international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Although female empowerment has been approached from different perspectives, it is recognized that the most studied element is access and control of economic resources, through their insertion into the labor market. Approaching female empowerment exclusively from an economic perspective is an incorrect concept since empowerment is effective equality in all areas of life. Objective The objective of this document is to distinguish the relationship that exists between the multiple factors that constitute female empowerment, either as drivers or inhibitors, through the structural analysis of networks. Method Given the nature of the data and the objective pursued by this work, the methodology used is network analysis, based on theoretical information from 42 works that refer to female empowerment, gender stereotypes at work, and gender studies. Results In the female empowerment process, the close environment plays a particularly important role. The most prominent elements and those that most frequently affect the study of female empowerment are the ability to save, control of economic resources, invisible work, and subordination in a family business. Conclusions Social constructs continue to restrict and discriminate decision-making power and female participation in homes and communities, which leads to the reproduction of patriarchal relationships and gender inequality. The incorporation of women into the labor market is shown as an opportunity and as a driver for female empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the concept of "empowerment" varies depending on the context or circumstances with different meanings and terminologies by different researchers the methods for systematically measuring empowerment differs. Multiple important instruments are constructed to monitor progress towards gender equality and women's empowerment at a regional and global scale. The paper will highlight particularly on the approaches developed by UNDP like gender-related development index (GDI), women's empowerment index (WEI) etc. with special focus on pros and cons of each methodology. Although many studies and discussions around empowerment are commonly limited to activities like "economic", "social" and "political" forms of empowerment. Therefore it sometimes also requires interventions that are beyond survey and are more holistic that explores other dimensions that have practical implications for to women's empowerment. The paper also reflects on some different kinds of non-survey instruments that can be useful for measuring women's empowerment with their pros and cons. Most of the non-survey instruments described in this paper can generate both quantitative and qualitative data and have many uses including the evaluation of a development programme. Like our survey questionnaires, we can also pretest our non-survey instruments extensively with people who are alike to respondents in our study, so that the logistic work could be easy to conduct and understandable by the researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the ongoing conflict in Syria and all that it signifies, the number of women refugees is seeing a rapid upturn, and this has led to a rise in the number of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Turkey providing support to this specific segment of society. Most of the studies carried out in the field recently focus on the status of Syrian women in Turkey and the impacts migration has had on them, while the perspectives of NGOs on the empowerment of women has been, on the whole, understudied. Based on the data collected from representatives of NGOs this study aims to fill this gap by analysing the approaches and practices of NGOs to the empowerment of refugee women. The results clearly indicate that the approach of NGOs to the empowerment of women differ depending on their type, being either family-oriented, protection-based, or women solidarity-focused. It was further found that the women solidarity-focused approach has a potential to pave the way for social empowerment with the ability to challenge gender inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CCP's commitment to gender equality since 1921 has produced vast gains in employment and education for countless women while overlooking established gender hierarchies in family life. Long-term research in Beijing reveals that crossing class, sectoral and generational differences, there is an apparent paradox between women's increasing access to education and employment and their abiding attachment to ideas and practices associated with their roles as wives, mothers and daughters-in-law. A reconfigured "patchy" form of patriarchy is sustained by a dominant discourse of gender difference that naturalizes women's association with the domestic sphere. Unprecedented engagements with international feminism after 1995 introduced new approaches to gender equality. Recently, young feminists from diverse backgrounds have launched public protests targeting expectations of women in marriage and family life, marking a contestation of previous articulations of gender equality. Online platforms are flooded with exchanges about women's empowerment in a market environment that grants them considerable leverage to manage their marital and domestic relationships. The focus of this new generation of feminists on social reproduction signifies a radical departure from the classical Marxist principles underpinning earlier approaches to women's emancipation. Nevertheless, a "patchy patriarchy" continues to characterize widely held gender assumptions and expectations, spanning class and sectoral difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Women's empowerment is a multidimensional construct which varies by context. These variations make it challenging to have a concrete definition that can be measured quantitatively. Having a standard composite measure of empowerment at the individual and country level would help to assess how countries are progressing in efforts to achieve gender equality (SDG 5), enable standardization across and within settings and guide the formulation of policies and interventions. The aim of this study was to develop a women's empowerment index for Tanzania and to assess its evolution across three demographic and health surveys from 2004 to 2016. Results: Women's empowerment in Tanzania was categorized into six distinct domains namely; attitudes towards violence, decision making, social independence, age at critical life events, access to healthcare, and property ownership. The internal reliability of this six-domain model was shown to be acceptable by a Cronbach's α value of 0.658. The fit statistics of the root mean squared error of approximation (0.05), the comparative fit index (0.93), and the standardized root mean squared residual (0.04) indicated good internal validity. The structure of women's empowerment was observed to have remained relatively constant across three Tanzanian demographic and health surveys. Conclusions: The use of factor analysis in this research has shown that women's empowerment in Tanzania is a six-domain construct that has remained relatively constant over the past ten years. This could be a stepping stone to reducing ambiguity in conceptualizing and operationalizing empowerment and expanding its applications in empirical research to study different women related outcomes in Tanzania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More than a quarter century after the Beijing Platform for Action solidified the importance of gender equality in international development, it is timely to review the conceptual approaches used to assess the gendered impacts of interventions. This paper presents a systematic review of recent investigations of gender equality from development-related academic literature (2009–2019) using two analytical approaches. First, we visualise trends based on bibliographic, methodological, contextual and conceptual aspects (n = 150). Second, we explore the theoretical approaches used to conceptualise gendered change through co-citation analysis (n = 61). Our trend analysis shows a breadth of relevant disciplinary perspectives but limited geographic and content foci. Additionally, very few studies explore gender equality dynamics that involve men and boys. Our exploration of theoretical foundations identifies four conceptualisations of gendered change, each reflecting the divergent disciplines, actors and interests that operate in the gender and development space. These conceptualisations each rely on and expand the concept of empowerment. By critically reflecting on feminist principles, future studies can transcend narrower empowerment framings and contribute more meaningfully to the aim of gender transformative development. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2021.1911636. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tanzania has, over the past two decades, made remarkable progress in terms of women's representation in the parliament. In the women in parliament rankings, Tanzania comes 23rd in the world and the 8th in Africa with 36.6% Members of Parliament. This achievement is largely a result of struggles by the women's movement in which a transformative feminist organization namely the Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP-Mtandao) is clearly singled out to have played a leading role. This paper provides a critical assessment of the contribution of TGNP-Mtandao in promoting women's representation and participation in decision-making processes in Tanzania. Specifically, it focuses to understand how TGNP's leadership style contributed change in the rules of the game towards the achievement of gender equality and women's political empowerment. In order to accomplish this endeavour, this work employed qualitative research so as to gain an in-depth understanding of gender issues in Tanzania's context. Data were collected mainly through interviews with key stakeholders from parliamentarians and non-governmental organizations. Moreover, election reports, evaluation reports, gender reports, and legislations were reviewed to provide secondary data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comparative case study uses qualitative data to explore and analyze the institutional obstacles that women in reserved seats face to their political empowerment in the Gram Panchayat in India and the Union Parishad in Bangladesh. The findings reveal that women in reserved seats in both countries confront some fundamental institutional barriers, such as a masculine model of politics, lack of political party support, as well as lack of power and resources. Indian women face serious problems—the inclusion of ex-officio members, the rotational system, bureaucratic dominance, and partisan elections—whereas Bangladeshi women suffer from the unequal distribution of reserved seats under a quota policy and lack of clarity in rules, power, and provisions. A lack of financial resources limits the effective participation of women members in the decision-making process in both countries. Further institutional reforms are vital to ensure women's political empowerment through reserved seats in both countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to investigate the statistical relationship between husbands' empowerment and wives' empowerment. Using panel data from Bangladesh that include over 4,000 husband-wife pairs, we regress husband's empowerment on wife's empowerment and a set of covariates. We use a domain-based framework, similar to the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index, to capture the multidimensional nature of empowerment. The findings reveal that the interplay between spouses' empowerment varies across domains. Husbands and wives act as partners with regard to community influence and daily workload adequacy. Yet, they act as rivals with regard to input in productive decisions and ownership of assets. Additionally, we identify variables that are consistently associated with husbands' and wives' empowerment. For wives, their income and employment are positive correlates of empowerment. For husbands, their wives' employment is a negative correlate, whereas household wealth is a positive correlate. Notably, the results also suggest that the gender asset gap rises with household wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moving from the assumption that local governments are significant stakeholders of women's empowerment policies, this article aims to examine the struggle against violence against women (VAW) at the local level through gender-sensitive policies employed by female mayors from a gender perspective and how these can be utilized as collective transformative resources for women's empowerment. Based on a field-study, the contention of this article is that gender budgeting, gender-sensitive collective-labor contracts, and women's support centers are institutional resources for the transformation of the municipal-budget, for attitude transformation in male employees, and for sustainable empowerment policies in the struggle against VAW in municipalities in Turkey. This article, stressing the link between the struggle against VAW and women's empowerment, reveals the significance of institutionalization of gender-sensitive policies and the struggle at local level as two prominent factors taken to be into consideration in women's empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to assess whether women's empowerment ensures reduced intimate partner violence (IPV). The differential relationship between women's empowerment and IPV among married women in Bangladesh was investigated using 2007 Demographic and Health Survey data. Logistic regression models were used to assess whether women's empowerment had any influence on their likelihood of experiencing IPV while controlling for other covariates. The analyses revealed that older cohorts of women, who were more empowered, were more vulnerable to physical violence than less-empowered, younger women. The likelihood of being affected by physical violence among less-empowered, childless women was greater than that of more-empowered women with only male children. Less-empowered, uneducated women were more likely to experience physical violence than more-empowered, primary-educated women. Less-empowered women who had been married for less than 5 years were more likely to suffer from physical violence than more-empowered women who had been married for more than 19 years. The likelihood of experiencing sexual violence was not found to have any significant association with women's empowerment. The findings suggest that although women's empowerment in Bangladesh is gradually improving, some sub-groups of empowered women are still susceptible to IPV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The paper examines 'gender empowerment' and 'women empowerment' approaches in the select villages of north Indian states viz. Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh. It is a result of field experience (2009–2011) and theoretical frameworks of women and gender empowerment endorsed by the world level donor organizations. The study finds that intervention by civil societies and mere providing power and position to women in local governance both have a very limited effect on women empowerment in patriarchic Indian societies and argues that women empowerment approach is a pre-requisite to achieve gender equality in the rural north Indian societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advancing gender equality and women's empowerment (GE/WE) may contribute to better child nutrition and development in low-resource settings. However, few empirical studies have generated evidence on GE/WE and examined the potential of engaging men to transform gender norms and power relations in the context of nutrition and parenting programs. We tested the independent and combined effects of engaging couples and bundling nutrition and parenting interventions on GE/WE in Mara, Tanzania. EFFECTS (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03759821) was a cluster-randomized 2 × 2 factorial trial plus control. Eighty village clusters were randomly assigned to one of five intervention conditions: standard of care, mothers nutrition, couples nutrition, mothers bundled nutrition and parenting, or couples bundled nutrition and parenting. Between October 2018–May 2019, 960 households were enrolled with children under 18 months of age residing with their mother and father. Community health workers (CHWs) delivered a bi-weekly 24-session hybrid peer group/home visit gender-transformative behavior change program to either mothers or couples. GE/WE outcomes were analyzed as intention-to-treat and included time use, gender attitudes, social support, couples' communication frequency and quality, decision-making power, intimate partner violence (IPV), and women's dietary diversity (WDD). Data were collected from 957 to 815 mothers and 913 and 733 fathers at baseline and endline, respectively. Engaging couples compared to mothers only significantly increased paternal and maternal gender-equitable attitudes, paternal time spent on domestic chores, and maternal decision-making power. Bundling increased maternal leisure time, decreased maternal exposure to any IPV, and increased WDD over 7 days. A combination of engaging couples and bundling was most effective for paternal gender attitudes, couples communication frequency, and WDD over 24 h and 7 days. Our findings generate novel evidence that CHWs can deliver bundled nutrition and parenting interventions to couples in low-resource community settings that advance GE/WE more than nutrition interventions targeting only women. • We evaluated engaging fathers and bundling nutrition & parenting programs in TZ. • Both interventions advanced gender equality and women's empowerment (GE/WE). • We observed synergistic effects on GE/WE between bundling and engaging fathers. • This is the first experimental evidence on engaging fathers, bundling, and GE/WE. • Bundled nutrition-parenting programs can be gender-transformative and advance GE/WE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Household methodologies (HHM) intervene directly in intra-household gender relations to strengthen overall smallholder agency and efficacy as economic agents and development actors. Strengthening women's agency is one mechanism for progressing towards collaborative, systemic farm management. It is expected this will contribute to improved farm resilience in the face of climate change, strengthen food and nutrition security, and improve other development indicators. HHM are built around a vision, gendered analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT), an action plan, and indicators. Some HHM - including Gender Action Learning Systems (GALS), the focus of the research - use drawings making them easy to use for low-literate individuals. There is considerable evaluation report evidence of the efficacy of HHM in strengthening value chains, food security, and gender equality. However, this has yet to be complemented by a robust systematic evaluation of the methodology which includes non-intervention communities as controls. Here we report on the findings of a research study into GALS in Malawi where the National Smallholder Farmers' Association of Malawi (NASFAM) has been implementing GALS since 2013 with 4274 farmers (2821 women and 1453 men to May 2016). We held sex-disaggregated FGDs with 40 GALS households and 40 non-GALS households, all NASFAM members. Community profiles and a matrix activity focusing on task allocation, asset distribution, and expenditures by gender with 125 non-GALS and 135 GALS respondents were also conducted. Our analyses indicate a significant shift towards sharing of on-farm tasks and household tasks, and joint realization of the benefits from agricultural produce in GALS households. They are building up portfolios of assets including livestock, houses, ox-carts, and land, unlike non-GALS households. Respondents in GALS households, particularly de facto women-headed households, report an increase in social standing and participation in community life. In both GALS and non-GALS households, men and women agree that men continue to dominate marketing and are final decision-makers. However, financial transparency and intra-household agreement on expenditures characterize households with GALS participants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the premises of corporate solutions to gender inequality in the Global South. In feminist debates, businesses' increasing emphasis on women's empowerment has been discussed both in terms of increasing feminist impact and the co-optation of feminist demands. To explore the ideological effects of corporate gender practices, focus is placed on the Coca-Cola Company's global "5by20" campaign, which has the stated aim to empower five million women as small-scale entrepreneurs around the world and, in a "win-win" fashion, to double sales by 2020. Based on interviews and participatory observations in Mexico, this article traces a particular narrative of empowerment, envisioned as a transition from dependency to self-sufficiency and threatened by psychological and cultural restraints rather than material conditions. It shows that self-help and positive thinking are essential affective drives, thus reinforcing market-based, individualized development strategies. In response to feminist debates, the article concludes that corporate gender practices can be seen as part of a neoliberal transposition of equality concerns from a political to an economic domain. In effect, when initiatives such as 5by20 promote the accumulation of "human capital" to enhance gender equality, they simultaneously work to legitimize the inequalities that are necessarily entailed in competitive capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Aspirations are often missing from women's empowerment models and measures. • Aspirations are related to agency, but they are more than how women make decisions, a common domain of women's empowerment. • The A-WEAI does not capture key domains of empowerment for ethnic minority women in Vietnam. • Without understanding women's aspirations, programs may not empower women. Empowerment programs for women have been key development initiatives toward achieving gender equality. Projects, models, and measurement tend to focus on resources and agency as core to empowerment. Missing from most models and research is women's own aspirations, or what they value for their futures, that affect how women use their resources and agency to achieve wellbeing. Aspirations are central to a sense of a good life and are necessary to strengthen among poor communities, but they are often overlooked among women, particularly those who are not pursuing formal schooling and who work in informal labor. This paper examines how aspirations matter for women in poverty who are working in informal sectors (agriculture and tourism) in Vietnam. It argues that without examining women's aspirations for themselves, their family, and community, development projects may miss achieving their outcomes because they are not valued by women. Using data from the abbreviated version of the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI), and qualitative interview data from women and men from minority ethnic groups in Vietnam, we show that women and men achieve similar rates of adequacy in their access to resources and decision-making as measured by the A-WEAI, and that women's aspirations for themselves and their community emphasized other valued outcomes from projects aimed at economic empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the concept of the double standard of ageing as applied to women's experience and perceptions of mid-life sexuality and love affairs. Drawing on a selection of popular and literary women's writing, it argues that the recurring trope or motif of the 'last chance' affair is an ideological vehicle that serves to age women by dividing their lives in two – pre and post-sexual, youthful and middle-aged - with all the associations of a decline in status and value that have, moreover, much broader implications for gendered equality. There is also a submerged theme of empowerment running through these women's stories, through which, among other things, it is possible to critique normative sexuality, which enshrines male privilege, at earlier points in the life course. However, the continued salience of the double standard suggests both the presence of a powerful tributary feeding ongoing gender inequality and the role that age plays in this. • This paper examines the double standard of ageing • It does so by looking at the mechanics of the concept and practice and how it works through the 'last love affair' • This is a powerful motif recurring in women's life writing which uses sexuality to provide a bridge from youth to age • This works powerfully on women to encourage them to see themselves as losing their place in the sexual regime • However, there are also powerful forms of resistance and empowerment associated with such experiences [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of a high HIV/AIDS prevalence rate among women in Zimbabwe, this study sought to assess the extent to which the Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network (ZWRCN) was effective in disseminating HIV/AIDS information to combat the pandemic among women. Literature reviewed that in as much as information was crucial in the fight against HIV/AIDS; there are other strategies that should be employed in combating HIV/AIDS to complement information dissemination activities such as economic empowerment of women and promotion of gender equality. The evaluation research design was used to accomplish the research objectives. The population of the study consisted of thirty-five women and five ZWRCN staff. Thirty out of the thirty-five women responded to a questionnaire whilst three out of five ZWRCN staff members responded to an interview. The study revealed that most women did not have access to HIV/AIDS information they needed. Where such information was available, it was not based on formal needs assessment, hence, mostly irrelevant. The study recommended the ZWRCN to engage in effective needs assessment as well as partnering with other organisations whose mandate was gender and HIV/AIDS. The expected outcome of this recommendation was hoped to ensure the reversal of the pandemic among women. Of major importance was the introduction of outreach programmes where officers would collect, document and provide access to the needed information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Kabeer's insightful and influential article in 1999, the research in the field of women studies from the perspectives of women's empowerment has gained immense significance in the academic discourse. This study examines how scholarly research on women's empowerment has evolved over the past two decades by conducting a comprehensive literature analysis. We first compiled the bibliometric data using the Scopus database. The bibliometric data included 916 articles published in 427 peerreviewed journals by 1845 authors during 1999–2019, citing the influential work by Kabeer published in the July 1999 issue of the journal - Development and Change. The analysis suggests that research on women's empowerment has primarily been a multidisciplinary field with journals from diverse disciplines publishing articles on this theme. The analysis identifies the most influential journals, authors, and centres of excellence that have shaped women's empowerment research and unearths the sub-topics related to women's empowerment, which have been in vogue in recent times. The topics trending currently include interrelationships between gender equity and empowerment, measurement of women's empowerment, dimensions, and consequences of women's empowerment. These themes present fresh opportunities for aspiring researchers to align their work in this field. Our analysis makes a significant contribution for researchers interested in women's empowerment by providing a historical perspective, tracing the reason for the spurt in research output, establishing linkages between the articles, and identifying the emerging areas within the broad theme of women's empowerment. • Naila Kabeer's influential and insightful article of 1999 facilitated a steep rise in research on Women's Empowerment (WE). • WE research features in many disciplines ranging from accounting, economics to environmental studies. • WSIF features among the top five journals for women's empowerment research. • Most of the empirical evidence on women's empowerment is from field studies done in Africa and Southeast Asia. • Future research priorities are identified in the domain of measurement, dimensions, consequences and other correlates of WE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]