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Women's Interests and Empowerment: Gender Planning Reconsidered

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  • Saskia Wieringa

Abstract

This article looks at the empowerment approach in relation to issues of women and development. After explaining why this is currently the most fruitful perspective in the field of gender planning, it then goes on to explore two central problems of the empowerment approach. The first problem is the conceptualization of women's gender interests. The distinction between women's practical and strategic gender interests was introduced by Molyneux and popularized by Moser. It is argued here that this distinction is theoretically unfounded and empirically untenable. Secondly, gender planners tend towards a preference for simplified tools and quantifiable targets. Here it is argued that women's realities should not be bent into this planning framework but that instead planners, working from an empowerment perspective, should demonstrate flexibility and theoretical grounding, and be aware of the political dimensions of their work.

Suggested Citation

  • Saskia Wieringa, 1994. "Women's Interests and Empowerment: Gender Planning Reconsidered," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 25(4), pages 829-848, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:25:y:1994:i:4:p:829-848
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-7660.1994.tb00537.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Moser, Caroline O. N., 1989. "Gender planning in the third world: Meeting practical and strategic gender needs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 17(11), pages 1799-1825, November.
    2. Jane L. Parpart, 1993. "Who is the ‘Other‘?: A Postmodern Feminist Critique of Women and Development Theory and Practice," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 24(3), pages 439-464, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. M. Moniruzzaman, 2011. "Group Management and Empowerment," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 6(1), pages 67-91, April.
    2. C. Vinod Kumar & Md. Mastan Vali, 2012. "Political Empowerment of Women in Panchayati Raj Institutions at Grassroots Level: A Case Study in Guntur District of Andhra Pradesh," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 4(3), pages 153-179, September.
    3. Linda Mayoux, 1995. "Beyond Naivety: Women, Gender Inequality and Participatory Development," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 26(2), pages 235-258, April.
    4. Paula Kantor, 2002. "Gender, Microenterprise Success and Cultural Context: The Case of South Asia," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 26(4), pages 131-143, July.
    5. Okechukwu C. Iheduru, 2003. "Corporate Amazons or Empowerment Spice Girls?: Elite Black Businesswomen and Transformation in South Africa," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 19(4), pages 473-508, December.

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