Putting Power back into Empowerment
Of all the buzzwords that have entered the development lexicon in the past thirty years, "empowerment" is probably the most widely used and abused. In this article, Srilatha Batliwala argues for reclaiming, reframing, and resistance women’s empowerment, which requires a new clarity of vision and invigorated strategies on the part of feminists and their movements. A critical piece of this is to reformulate the concept and practice of movement-building. A compelling, powerful vision needs to be rearticulated with accessible messages to which poor women - and men - can connect at the local, national and global level. This is possible only by listening to poor women in their movements and struggles, to learn from them the values, principles, and actions that frame their search for justice. From such a process a new depth and breadth of organising and a genuine global feminist movement can be built.
