UIE Studies 5 • 1995

Women, Education and Empowerment:

Pathways towards Autonomy

edited by Carolyn Medel-Anonuevo

Report of the International Seminar heldat UIE, Hamburg, 27 January - 2 February 1993

With contributions from:

Namtip Aksornkool • Anita Digheu Jenny Horsmann• Lucita Lazo • Carolyn Medel-Anonuevo and

Bettina Bochynek • Nelly P. Stromquist • Miryan Zuñiga

The UNESCO Institute for Education, Hamburg, is a legally independent entity. While the pro-grammes of the Institute are established along the lines laid down by the General Conference ofUNESCO, the publications of the Institute are issued under its sole responsibility; UNESCO isnot responsible for their contents.The points of view, selection of facts, and opinions expressed are those of the authors and donot necessarily coincide with official positions of the UNESCO Institute for Education,Hamburg.The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication do not implythe expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the UNESCO Secretariat concerningthe legal status of any country or territory, or its authorities, or concerning the delimitations ofthe frontiers of any country or territory.

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© UNESCO Institute for Education 1995FeldbrunnenstraBe 58P.O. Box 13 10 2320110 Hamburg, Germany

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Preface 3

The International Seminar on Women's Education and Empowerment Carolyn Medel-Anonuevo and Bettina Bochynek 5

The Theoretical and Practical Bases for Empowerment Nelly P. Stromquist 13

Some Reflections on the Empowerment of Women Lucita Lazo 23

Women's Literacy and Empowerment: The Nellore ExperienceAnita Dighe 39

The Organization of American States Multinational Project on Education and Work; An Experience of Popular Educationfor Women's Empowerment in ColombiaMiryan Zuniga E. 47

Educate to EmpowerNamtip Aksornkool 53

Thinking about Women and Literacy: Support and Challenge Jenny Horsman 63

List of Participants of the Seminar 69

PREFACE

As women's education has become one of the key development objectives in the nineties,it is crucial to examine the assumptions under which policies, programmes and projects are for-mulated towards this goal. More recently, the concept of empowerment has been tied to therange of activities undertaken by and for women in different areas, education included. In allthese, a related question is: From what and whose perspective are we going to evaluate suchassumptions and its empowering outcomes?

The International Seminar on Women's Education and Empowerment was convened bythe UNESCO Institute for Education (UIE) together with the Principal Regional Office for Asiaand Pacific (PROAP) precisely to look into these issues by gathering women educators andresearchers from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds to collectively examine the different edu-cation practices and their theoretical implications for empowering women.

At several instances during the seminar, it was evident that there were similarities in theconditions of women's education in the different parts of the world, e.g. stereotyping in the for-mal education system which further reinforces the traditional gender roles. On the other hand,it was also pointed out that one should not gloss over the differences of the conditions of womenas a result of specific economic, political or socio-cultural factors.

As the participants summed up the similarities and differences, it was clear in our discus-sions that it is critical that the women's perspective be taken as the reference point for evalua-ting the effectiveness of educational policies, programmes and projects.

As such a women's perspective is continuously evolving, it is imperative that this be cla-rified at certain points so that the different agents involved are able to examine and assess theiractivities as well as contribute to the further refining of such a framework through the analysesof different practices.

We hope that with the publication of the report, which includes many of the papers pre-sented during the seminar, UIE is able to contribute to the dissemination of the diversity of ideason women's education as well as providing a venue for critical reflection on empowerment. Incompiling the papers for this publication, we have tried to strike a balance between theoreticaland practical discussions as well as to combine the programme perspective with more personalreflections.

For all the spirited and enriching discussions, we would like to thank all the participantsat the seminar. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the contribution of Cendrine Sebastianiof the Publications Section of UIE for painstakingly correcting the drafts as well as experimen-ting on different layout possibilities for this publication.

Carolyn Medel-Añonuevo

Since the "UN Declaration of theDecade of Women" in 1975, attention andaction on women's concerns have steadilyincreased and education, whether it be theform of consciousness-raising or skills acqui-sition, was one of the areas women's organi-sations, government agencies and internatio-nal donor agencies focused on. The under-lying assumption was that if women unders-tood their conditions, knew their rights andlearned skills traditionally denied to them,empowerment would follow. Eighteen yearshave passed and there are different views as towhether such assumptions about increasingaccess to education and training have resultedin the tilting of the power balance in favor ofwomen.

The International Seminar on Women'sEducation and Empowerment therefore wasconvened amidst the discussion on the rele-vance of women's education in improving thesituation of women, in the short term, and inemancipating women, in the long run.Furthermore, the Seminar took place during acrucial phase at the UNESCO Institute forEducation, where women's non-formal educa-tion is going to be a key concern.

In view of the "World Conference onWomen" to be held in Beijing in 1995, theseminar meant to be one of many actions andactivities relevant to women's issues whichwill be initiated, organized and/or supportedby the Institute. The promotion ofaction-oriented research and the improvementof cooperation with various institutions focu-sing on women's education needs will be oneof the priorities of the Institute in the comingyears. In fact, the partnership of UIE and theUNESCO Principal Regional Office for Asiaand Pacific (PROAP) in undertaking thisseminar is an example of how continuingcooperation has been a crucial factor in thesuccess of joint projects.

The key role of education must beunderlined and investigated on a conti-

nuous basis. Despite the progress in this area,much remains to be done. The Seminar, as itprogressed, was able to provide a sense ofwhat different organisations were doing andhow this could be improved. It was agreedthat this could be a starting point for assessingthe extent to which education has empoweredwomen.

Objectives

The general objectives of the seminar were:

1. to exchange experiences in promotingthe empowerment of women throughdifferent educational programmes, bothformal and non-formal;

2. to discuss the theoretical issues arisingfrom the practice of the education ofwomen;

3. t o deve lop r e sea r ch de s igns onwomen's education and empowerment for possible collaboration in selected areas; and

4. t o e x p l o r e w a y s a n d m e a n s o fo p e r a t i o n a l i z i n g t h e t e r m"empowerment. "

By the end of the seminar, thefollowing outputs were expected:

• a definition of and a conceptual frame-work for understanding women's empo-werment;

• an indicative list of indicators and pro-cesses or mechanisms of empowerment;and

• initial proposals/recommendations forfuture action, focusing on effective pro-cedures and mechanisms of empower-ment.

THE INTERNATIONAL SEMINAR ON WOMEN'S EDUCATION AND EMPOWERMENT

Carolyn Medel-Anonuevo and Bettina Bochynek

Introduction

Participants

Given the diversity of work in women's edu-cation, researchers, educators and activistsfrom different regions of the world were invi-ted to take part in the Seminar. The objectivewas to bring these women together in a forumwhere they could discuss the whole range ofactivities they are involved in and cull impor-tant lessons not only for improving their workbut also for assessing the impact of their pro-grammes and/or projects.

To facilitate the exchange of expe-riences, the participants were each requestedto prepare a background paper describingtheir education-related activities. It was fur-ther meant to stimulate the discussion onmajor problems in the field of women's edu-cation as well as to explore ways and meansof carrying out efficient and innovative pro-grammes for empowering women. The parti-cipants were likewise asked to reflect on therelevant theoretical issues and practicalconcerns regarding the empowerment ofwomen through education.

To focus the discussions on theoreticaland conceptual issues around empowerment,three participants were tasked with writingcase studies which delved into the empiricaland theoretical basis for empowerment.

A total of 16 participants from differentregions in the world (Africa, Asia, A r a bStates, Caribbean, Europe, North Americaand South America) attended the Seminar.Some were university-based researchers andeducators, others were working in women'sorganizations and non-governmental organi-sations (NGOs) dealing with education, a fewwere working in UN agencies while one camefrom a government agency.

As a number of them were involved inthe women's movement as well as peacemovements, health, literacy and developmentwork in their respective countries, the womenbrought in a variety of experiences.

Highlights of the Seminar

Given the objectives of the seminar, thesix-day meeting was divided into three parts.

The sharing of the participants' experienceswas scheduled for the first two days while the reflec-tion of the theoretical and conceptual implication ofthe term "empowerment" was to follow in the nexttwo days. The remaining period was used for plan-ning and coming up with concrete proposals.

To ensure maximum participation, the parti-cipants were divided into smaller groups in someparts of the programme. The main points of thegroup's discussion were then presented during theplenary sessions.

Context of Education Work

In terms of government policies on women's educa-tion, it was observed that while there is no explicitdiscrimination by gender in most places, neither isthere a real commitment to provide sustainable pro-grammes for women. There is such a perceived gapbetween the rhetoric and policies ofd e c i s i o n-makers that many of the women conside-red the policies as simply paying "lip service" towomen's concerns. Even in developed countries,the proportion of resources that is being allocated towomen's needs is small considering the many diver-se needs of the women. The fact that many of thed e c i s i o n-makers are men also constrains theirappreciation of these needs.

The actual working and living conditions ofwomen also prevent many of them from meaning-ful participation in women's education pro-grammes/projects. The increasing impoverishmentof women makes it necessary for them to focus oni n c o m e-generating activities simultaneous with theperformance of household chores. This, thereforelimits their time and energy to get involved in edu-cation programmes.

Many of the women that have been projectedto be beneficiaries of development programmes areilliterate, so the issue of literacy as a women's deve-lopment concern is likewise a priority.

In spite of the above-mentioned pro-blems, the participants agreed that, inorder to promote women's empowerment,it is necessary to create an environmentthat will allow women to participate ineducational programmes and share the

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benefits. It was therefore emphasized thatwhile there is a need to set up specific educa-tion programmes for women, there is also anecessity to develop forms of education thatwill sensitize people towards gender discri-mination and will raise their acceptance ofwomen's promotion.

The discussion on the relationship bet-ween the women's movement and the diffe-rent areas (peace, health, literacy) of involve-ment of the participants likewise raised theimportant issue of how feminist concerns areintegrated in these. While a few women rela-ted the problems of doing so, others sharedtheir successful strategies in mainstreaming.It was observed that there is a tendency forsome to look at women's only programmes as"marginalization" or "ghettoization" but therewas consensus that such programmes havetheir specific contribution to improving thewomen's situation just as integrative pro-grammes do.

This implies that the structures of socie-ty have to be taken into account. The approa-ch to women's empowerment must be holisticin the sense that, apart from educational mea-sures for women, other factors such as a) menbeing the decision-makers and b) the influen-ce of popular culture and mass media must betaken into consideration.

The participants also compared notes asto how education programmes (whether theybe women only or integrative) can empower.It was pointed out that one of the key deter-minants of successful programmes is theextent to which they had taken the multipleroles of women into account and how theyhelped in alleviating the burden.

Given these, among the suggested com-ponents are:

• promotion of gender awareness;• lessons on health and nutrition;• integration of technical, entrepreneurial,

cultural and communal aspects;• information and lessons on politics;

and• provision of planning and thinking

skills.

It was also necessary to clarify thegoals of women's education. The participants

agreed that the more important objectives are:

• to eliminate illiteracy;• to develop self-esteem and self-confi-

dence;• to have knowledge about their bodies

and sexuality;• to have the ability to make their own

decisions and negotiate;• to raise the women's awareness of their

civil rights;• to provide skills for income generation;• to make participation in

community/society more effective; and• to prepare them to be good women lea-

ders.

Crucial to education work are othercomplementary activities such as those in theareas of legal reform, transformation of inter-national economic and political relations,action-oriented research and networking. Itwas stressed that it is equally important toconvince men that better education of womenwill be beneficial to the entire family and thesociety as a whole.

The Concept of Empowerment

There was consensus among the partici-pants that "empowerment" has become one ofthe most widely used development terms.Women' s groups, non-governmental deve-lopment organisations, activists, politicians,governments and international agencies referto empowerment as one of their goals. Yet itis one of the least understood in terms of howit is to be measured or observed. It is precise-ly because this word has now been one of thefashionable concepts to include inpolicies/programmes/projects that there is aneed to clarify and come up with tentativedefinitions. Furthermore, the particular impli-cations of empowerment of women is an areathat needs to be discussed.

1. Definition

The nature of empowerment renders itdifficult to define. On the one hand, it isoften referred to as a goal for many

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development programmes/projects. On the otherhand, it can also be conceived as a process thatpeople undergo, which eventually leads tochanges. Nelly Stromquist, for instance, definesempowerment as "a process to change the distri-bution of power both in interpersonal relationsand in institutions throughout society" whileLucy Lazo describes it as "a process of acqui-ring, providing, bestowing the resources and themeans or enabling the access to a control oversuch means and resources".

Given the above, the term is thereforemore relevant to the marginalized groups thep o o r, the illiterates, the indigenous communities- and of course, cutting across these categories,the women.

From the discussion, it was also clear thatempowerment can be observed at diff e r e n tlevels. The above-mentioned definitions alreadypoint to interpersonal relations and institutionsas possible sites of empowerment. NamtipAksornkool looks at the individual level whenshe cites Paz's definition of empowerment as"the ability to direct and control one's own life".But it is clear from Ms. Aksornkool's presenta-tion that such an individual empowerment ofwomen is attained in relationship to the larg e rs o c i e t y. Citing Depthnews, she writes that "it is aprocess in which women gain control over theirown lives by knowing and claiming their rightsat all levels of society at the international, local,and household levels. Self-empowerment meansthat women gain autonomy, are able to set theirown agenda and are fully involved in the econo-mic, political and social decision-making pro-c e s s " .

To add to the already complex nature ofempowerment, it was also pointed out that itis difficult to come out with a general defini-tion since it can be somehow determined bythe respective cultural contexts. The relativityof empowerment, although in a diff e r e n tsense, is one of the important features discus-sed in Ms. Lazo's paper. She argues that"empowerment is a moving state; it is a conti-nuum that varies in degree of power. It is rela-tive... One can move from an extreme state ofabsolute lack of power to the other extreme ofhaving absolute power".

As articulated in some of the papers,empowerment can have four components:cognitive, psychological, economic and poli-tical.

According to Ms. Stromquist, thecognitive component would include the"women's understanding of their conditionsof subordination and the causes of suchconditions at both micro and macro levels ofsociety. It involves acquiring new knowledgeto create a different understanding of genderrelations as well as destroying old beliefs thatstructure powerful gender ideologies." Thepsychological component, on the other hand,would include the "development of feelingsthat women can act upon to improve theircondition. This means formation of the beliefthat they can succeed in change efforts."

These two components are exemplifiedin Ms. Anita Dighe's presentation of theNellore experience, where a literacy campai-gn contributed to the anti-drinking campaign.She writes that "women have picketed thearrack (local liquor), marched unitedly to thedistrict collector's office and organized a"dharna" to ensure that auctions are not allo-wed to take place, they have become streng-thened in their conviction that it is only suchunited action that can bring any change".

The economic component "requiresthat women be able to engage in a productiveactivity that will allow them some degree ofautonomy, no matter how small and hard toobtain at the beginning'' (Stromquist). Thecase study of Ms. Lazo demonstrates howsocio-economic aid (through granting ofrevolving funds, marketing assistance andproduct development) has helped in the set-ting up of micro-enterprises run by women.In contrast, Ms. Dighe's presentation stressesthat while the cognitive and psychologicalcomponents of empowerment are evident inthe Nellore experience, the economic compo-nent might be more difficult to demonstrateas "income-generating activities, however,are difficult to implement because they arerisky, time-consuming and hard to sustain".

The political component would encom-pass the "ability to organize and mobilize forchange. C o n s e q u e n t l y, an empower-ment process must involve not only

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individual awareness but collectiveawareness and collective action. The notionof collective action is fundamental to the aimof attaining social transformation"(Stromquist). It follows from the above com-ponents that empowerment allows women tohave choices, which in turn means relativestrength and bargaining power for them.While it is clear that women can be empowe-red individually, the feminist vision is onewhere women are able to articulate a collecti-ve voice and demonstrate collective strength.It was also stressed that incorporating thefeminist perspective in the concept of empo-werment implies a long-term redesigning ofsocieties that will be based on democraticrelationships. The paper of Ms. Dighe talksabout empowerment as dealing with strategicrather than practical gender

2. Indicators of Empowerment

Understanding that empowerment is acomplex issue with varying interpretations ind i fferent societal, national and culturalcontexts, the participants also came out witha tentative listing of indicators.

At the level of the individual womanand her household:• participation in crucial decision-m a k i n gprocesses;• extent of sharing of domestic work by

men;• extent to which a woman takes control

of her reproductive functions and decides on family size;

• extent to which a woman is able to decide where the income she has earned will be chanelled to;

• feeling and expression of pride and value in her work;

• self-confidence and self-esteem;• and ability to prevent violence.

At the community and/or organisational

• existence of women's organisations;• allocation of funds to women andwomen's projects;

• increased number of women leaders at village, district, provincial and national levels;

• involvement of women in the design,development and application of technology;

• participation in community programmes, productive enterprises, politics and arts;

• involvement of women in non-traditional tasks; and

• increased training programmes for women; and

• exercising her legal rights when necessary.

At the national level:

• awareness of her social and political rights;

• integration of women in the general national development plan;

• existence of women's networks and publications;

• extent to which women are officially visible and recognized; and

• the degree to which the media take heed of women's issues.

3. Facilitating and Constraining Factors of Empowerment

Empowerment does not take place in avacuum. In the same way that Ms. Lazo talksabout women's state of powerlessness as aresult of "a combination and interaction ofenvironmental factors," one can also discussthe conditions/factors that can hasten or hin-der empowerment. As above, the listing is apreliminary one based on the discussions.

Facilitating factors

• existence of women's organisations;• availability of support systems for

women;• availability of women-specific data

and other relevant information;• availability of funds;• feminist leadership;• networking; favorable media coverage;• favorable policy climate.

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Constraining factors

• heavy work load of women;• isolation of women from each other;• illiteracy;• traditional views that limit women's

participation;• no funds;• internal strife/militarization/wars;• disagreements/conflicts amongwomen's groups; ustructural adjustment poli-cies;• discriminatory policy environment;• negative and sensational coverage ofmedia.

Strategies for the Future

Empowerment through education isideally seen as a continuous holistic processwith cognitive, psychological, economic andpolitical dimensions in order to achieveemancipation. Given the complexity of politi-cal, societal and international interrelations,one has to systematically think about the stra-tegies and concrete proposals for futureaction if one hopes to achieve such a goal.

A set of strategies on education, resear-ch/documentation, campaigns, networking,influencing policies, training and media wasdeveloped by the participants. As can be seenfrom the listing, the strategies are inter-rela-ted to each other.

a. Education

The formal and non-formal educationsystems would need to be considered. Itwould be important to analyze the gendercontent and to ascertain the manner in whichit is addressed/not addressed in the educatio-nal system. On the basis of the analysis, cur-riculum changes would need to be broughtabout. Likewise it would be important to reo-rient the teachers on gender issues so thatoverall gender sensitisation in the educationalsystem could be brought about.

In concrete terms, this would mean:

• reorienting and reeducating policymakers;

• securing equal access for boys and girlsin education;

• holding workshops/seminars for tea-chers;

• revising teaching materials;• producing materials in local languages;• implementing special programmes for

women in the field of Adult Education;• incorporating issues such as tradition,

race, ethnicity, gender sensitisation,urban and rural contexts in the pro-grammes;

• raising awareness on the necessity forhealth care;

• politicising women to show them howmacro level mismanagement is respon-sible for their loss of jobs; and

• focusing on parents as role models.

b. Research/Documentation

The importance of doing participatory andaction research was underscored. It wasconsidered important to organize workshopsto train grassroots women to conduct partici-patory research where they could developskills to critically analyze their existingconditions. This will facilitate their organi-zing for collective action.

While participatory research was consi-dered to be important, it was recognized thattraditional quantitative research was alsonecessary. The guiding principle, however,was to share the results with the women in alanguage and manner that was understan-dable to them.

Research as a strategy would thereforeentail:

• disseminating information;• producing and disseminating informa-

tion leaflets regarding women's rights;• referring to women in all national and

UN statistics; • collecting oral history of women;• documenting and analyzing successful

and failed programmes of the women'smovements;

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• analyzing successful advocacy cases inorder to learn about the arguments thatpersuade policy makers;

• collecting cross-cultural case studies;• constantly evaluating research; and• involving women as agents (instead of

objects) of research.

c. Campaigns

If one is to have an effect in society, it isimportant to undertake campaign and lobbyactivities that will put the issue of gender inthe minds of the legislators, policy-makersand the larger public. This will therefore

• pushing for a dialogue between stakeholders;

• raising gender issues within the natio-nal policy arena;

• pressuring to upgrade women's bureaus(which are a result of the UN Decadefor Women) into ministries of women'saffairs;

• lobbying for sex-equity and affirmativeaction legislation;

• lobbying for "counter structural adjust-ment policies;" organizing pressuregroups (like "Greenpeace");

• using consumer power for boycotts;securing access to information;

• demanding child care centers; and• producing videos and CDs, T-Shirts etc.

d. Networking

Through networking, it would be pos-sible to share experiences and learn from oneanother. In this manner, understanding andsolidarity among women's org a n i s a t i o n s ,development org a n i z a t i o n s(governmental/non- governmental) and mul-tilateral agencies could be forged. This wouldtherefore entail networking at the national,regional and international levels. Moreover,at the international level, South-South lin-kages were considered to be particularlyimportant.

• organizing at least one meeting a yearof gender sensitive organizations;

• bringing together donor agencies,governments and NGOs;

• setting up a north-south dialogue andcollaboration;

• setting up a south-south cooperationand exchange;

• linking women's movements all overthe world;

• establishing alternative credit schemesthat offer women access to funds.

e. Training

In our societies, there is a gender divi-sion of labor which dictates the kind of trai-ning one acquires. If one talks about women'sempowerment, it is important that womenhave access to the different training opportu-nities previously denied them. This thereforemeans:

• preparing for jobs that are usually notopen to them;

• providing income-generating projectsthat are market-oriented (notwelfare-oriented projects); and

• training capable female leaders at alllevels.

f. Media

Considering the attitudinal barriers intraditional societies and the role which

the mass media play in reinforcing them, thefollowing strategies were advanced:

• organizing mass media campaigns toraise awareness;

• creating a social climate friendly towomen's issues;

• resisting the tendency to send womenback to the kitchen; and

• disseminating information about confe-rences that will take place in thecoming years.

Evaluation of the Seminar

As reflected in the preceding discus-sion, the seminar moved step by step to meetthe objectives set out from the beginning. Theparticipants were not only able to learn from

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each other's experience but also collec-tively reflected on the concept of empower-ment. Furthermore, they were also able toidentify concrete proposals that they can takeback to their organisations and implement, aswell as to identify possible areas of collabo-ration with others.

The seminar also left the participantswith the feeling that they were not alone intheir work and, in fact, are part of a largermovement whose combined efforts can pushfor women's empowerment worldwide.

In terms of the conceptualisation ofempowerment, some participants would havepreferred that a more concrete definition ofempowerment and its indicators were readyto be taken back. They commented that theconcept of empowerment has not yet beencompleted. Others, instead, were glad that asimplistic definition of empowerment hadbeen avoided and that the discussion of theissue will be further elaborated when they getback to their organisations.

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Empowerment has become a widely usedword. In spheres as different as managementand labor unions, health care and ecology,banking and education, one hears of empo-werment taking place. The popular use of theword also means that it has been overexten-ded and applied in circumstances that clearlydo not involve much power acquisitionbeyond some symbolic activity or event.

Empowerment in its emancipatorymeaning, is a serious word--one which bringsup the question of personal agency rather thanreliance on intermediaries, one that linksaction to needs, and one that results inmaking significant collective change. It isalso a concept that does not merely concernpersonal identity but brings out a broader ana-lysis of human rights and social justice.

To gain a greater understanding of theconcept, it might be helpful to look into itsorigins among popular movements. It emer-ged during the U. S . civil rights movementsin the 1960s, after substantial work took placein civil disobedience and voter registratione fforts to attain democratic rights forAfro-Americans. Displeased with the paceand scope of the changes, several black lea-ders (headed by Stokeley Carmichael) calledfor "black power," which they defined as:

a call for black people in this countryto unite, to recognize their heritage, to

build a sense of community. It is a call forblack people to begin to define their owngoals, to link their own organizations, and tosupport those

organizations (Carmichael andHamilton, 1967, p. 44).

Empowerment began to be appliedwithin the women's movements in the mid1970s. The similarities among oppressedgroups are considerable because they face the

common problem of limited willingness bythose in control to see the seriousness of theircondition and to work to solve it. Under thecircumstances, the oppressed must them-selves develop power for change to occur;power will not be given to them for theasking.

Applied to gender issues, the discussionof empowerment brings women into the poli-tical sphere, both private and public. Its inter-national use probably began with the appea-rance of the book by Sen and Grown,Development, Crisis, and Alternative Visions:Third World Women's Perspectives (1985),prepared for the Nairobi Conference at theend of the U.N. Decade for Women in 1985.In this book, a section on "EmpoweringOurselves" clearly identifies the creation ofwomen's organisations as central to the desi-gn and implementation of strategies for gen-der transformation.

Women and men are placed in bipolarcategories by numerous institutions in socie-t y. These institutions, through day-t o-d a ypractices embedded in long-standing beliefs,construct male and female subjects who facestrong forces to conform. Family practices,religious myths, the social division of labor,the sexual division of labor, marriage cus-toms, the educational system, and civil lawscombine to produce hierarchies, internalisedbeliefs, and expectations that are constrainingbut at the same time "naturalised" and thusseldom contested.

In this context, empowerment is a pro-cess to change the distribution of power, both ininterpersonal relations and in institutions throu-ghout society. Traditionally the state has inter-preted women's needs to suit its own prefe-rences. The typical and enduring considerationthat women have received from the state hasbeen in their capacity of mothers and wives.Women therefore need to become their own

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THE THEORETICALAND PRACTICAL BASES FOR EMPOWERMENT

Nelly P. Stromquist

advocates to address problems and situationsaffecting them that were previously ignored.Empowerment ultimately involves a politicalprocess to produce consciousness amongpolicy makers about women and to createpressure to bring about societal change.

There is an additional point to be made.Empowerment is a process which should cen-ter on adult women for two central reasons:first, their adult lives have produced manyexperiences of subordination and thus theyknow this problem very well, although theyhave not labeled it as such and second, thetransformation of these women is fundamen-tal to breaking the integrational reproductionof patriarchal authority.

Defining Empowerment

The subordinate position of women insociety, even though this position is somew-hat attenuated in higher social classes, haswell-known manifestations: limited represen-tation in the formal political system, a largeshare of the economy's informal sector andother types of labor with reduced financialrewards, almost exclusive responsibility forfamily and children, and the more subtlesigns of narrow career aspirations and lowself-esteem. Not infrequently, subordinationis also manifested in unwanted pregnanciesand wife-beating.

Women in many societies, particularlyin Latin America, have relied on "networks ofreciprocal exchange" (Lomnitz,1977) thatprovide information and assistance fromfamily, friends, and neighbors to obtain basicservices such as health, childcare, food, andeven services such as loans and job procure-ment. These networks operate within allsocial classes, the poor as well as the elites(Lomnitz,1977 and 1984). At one level, theseinformal networks constitute a valuable sour-ce of assistance for women. But at anotherlevel, these structures create mechanisms ofsocial control through the maintenance ofnotions of femininity and masculinity, andthrough deference to authoritarian, patriar-chal rule.

If subordination has many facets, sohas empowerment. Empowerment is asocio-political concept that goes beyond

"formal political participation" and"consciousness raising." A full definition ofempowerment must include cognitive, psy-chological, political, and economic compo-nents.

The cognitive component refers towomen' s understanding of their conditions ofsubordination and the causes of such condi-tions at both micro and macro levels of socie-ty. It involves understanding the self and theneed to make choices that may go against cul-tural and social expectations, and understan-ding patterns of behavior that create depen-dence, interdependence, and autonomywithin the family and in the society at large(Hall, 1992). It involves acquiring new know-ledge to create a different understanding ofgender relations as well as destroying oldbeliefs that structure powerful gender ideolo-gies. The cognitive component of empower-ment involves knowledge about their sexuali-ty beyond family planning techniques, fortaboos on sex information have mystified thenature of women and men and provided justi-fication for men's physical and mental controlof women. Another important cognitive areainvolves legal rights. In most countries, inclu-ding democratically advanced nations, legis-lation for gender equity and women's rights iswell ahead of practice; women therefore needto know which legal rights already exist inorder to press for their implementation andenforcement. A more comprehensive and arti-culated type of knowledge needed for empo-werment concerns elements that shape conju-gal dynamics such as control of wives' fertili-ty, sexuality, child bearing and rearing, com-panionship, feelings of affection and rejec-tion, unpaid domestic work, and householdd e c i s i o n-making. As Beneria and Roldanobserve, these elements constitutes wives'duties under the "marriage contract" (1987,pp. 137-139); therefore, they are the mostvulnerable to patriarchal control.

The psychological component includesthe development of feelings that women canact at personal and societal levels to improvetheir condition as well as the formation of thebelief that they can succeed in their changeefforts. The sex role socialization of womenhas inculcated attributes of "learned hel-plessness" within women. Through the

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repeated experience of uncontrollablee ffects, many women come to believe thatthey cannot modify their environment or per-sonal situations and thus their persistance inp r o b l e m-solving is diminished (Jack, 1992).Attributions of helplessness preclude opportu-nities for mediation and compromise and oftenwomen respond by complying with femalestereotypes of passivity and self-s a c r i f i c e .C l e a r l y, not every woman succumbs to thedominant sex-role socialization forces andseveral are able to question and even rejectthem. But, in general, it is a well known factthat many women, particularly those inl o w-income household, develop very discer-nable low levels of self-e s t e e m .

One cannot teach self-confidence ands e l f-esteem; one must provide the conditionsin which these can develop. Empowermentcannot be developed among "beneficiaries" ofprograms but only by "participants".Empowerment requires involving womendirectly in planning and implementation ofprojects (Rao et al., l991). Activities that seekempowerment must involve women in allstages of any specific project, though notnecessarily with the same intensity at all times.Women must participate in problem defini-tion, the identification of concrete solutions toproblems, the implementation of these solu-tions, and the assessment of the efforts under-taken. That this may involve some ineff i c i e n-cies and Dial and error, is a strong possibility.But experts also make mistakes. And womenmust be given opportunities to assert them-selves. In the long run, advantages outnumberdisadvantages because the skills gainedthrough these collective, participatoryapproaches are transferable to a variety ofsocial situations.

The psychological element is importantbut it needs to be strengthened with economicresources. Even though outside work for womenoften means a double burden, the empirical evi-dence supports the notion that access to workincreases a woman's economic independenceand with it a greater level of general indepen-dence is created. As Hall (1992) notes, economicsubordination must be neutralized for women tobe empowered. The economic component

of empowerment requires that women be ableto engage in a productive activity that willallow them some degree of financial autono-my, no matter how small and hard to obtain atthe beginning. Income generating programsare difficult to implement because they arerisky, time-consuming, and inefficient in theinitial phases. But they can improve over timeif accompanied by such necessary skills asmarketing, accounting and sufficient funding.The problem for income-generating projectsis not that they are not a good solution butrather that they have resulted in failure becau-se they have been poorly designed, imple-mented and funded. There is the know-how toturn income-generating activities into suc-cessful commercial ventures. Absent is thecommitment to use them in a meaningfulway.

The political component of empower-ment entails the ability to analyze the sur-rounding environment in political and socialterms; it also means the ability to organizeand mobilize for social change. In conse-quence, an empowerment process must invol-ve individual awareness, and collective actionis fundamental to the aim of attaining socialtransformation. As Griffin observes:

Redistribution strategies depend fortheir success on mobilizing the popula-tion for grassroots development, onexploiting the myriad opportunities atthe local level for small-scale projectsand on organizing the various groups inthe community around effective institu-tions so that they can articulate theirdemands, establish priorities and worktogether for the common good (p.63).

We noted ealier that there are personswho have used the concept of "empower-ment" to mean only superficial advancement.Conversely, there are persons who used otherterms and yet come quite close to our defini-tion of empowerment. One such individualis Joke Schrijvers, who sees "autonomy"as "a fundamental criticism of the exis-ting social, economic, and political order"(1991, p. 6). She defines autonomy as:

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an anti-hierarchical concept, which sti-mulates critical and creative thinkingand action. What I personally like bestin it, is that it expresses an inner attitu-de of strength, an attitude which makesroom for transformation.Transformation which comes fromwithin, which springs from innerresources of one s own as an individualor a collectivity, which moves bot-tom-up and goes against the unwanteddomination [on the part] of others(Schrijvers, 1991, pp. 5-6).

I think that autonomy, as defined bySchrijvers, is not dissimilar to empowerment.Rather, it seems to emphasize the psychologi-cal facet of the concept. Her definition is use-ful because it highlights that power "fromwithin" is very important before women mayexert any power "over" other segments ofsociety, particular the state.

Creating Empowerment

The prime target of empowerment mustbe adult women and, in the context of socialjustice and transformation, they must below-income adult women. Within this group,authoritarian behaviors by husbands in thehome make families and households in gene-ral a terrain that serves the maintenance ratherthan the transformation of unequal genderrelations.

A prerequisite to empowerment, there-fore, necessitates stepping outside the homeand participating in some form of collectiveundertaking that can be successful, thusdeveloping a sense of independence andcompetence among the women. The crea-tion of a small, cohesive group, with whichits members may identify closely is para-mount. We know that because of the smallscale and voluntary nature of these associa-tions many members gain valuable expe-rience and confidence in both leadership andmembership tasks. The central activity ofthe group could vary; it could be literacya c t i v i t y, income-generation, mutual basicneeds support, etc. Whatever the objective,the group activity should be designed so that

its process and its goal-attainment foster thedevelopment of a sense of self-esteem, com-petence, and autonomy.

Empowerment will go through a seriesof phases. Awareness of conditions at the per-sonal and collective levels will lead to somepublic action, however small. Following fromthis beginning there should occur a renegotia-tion of family conditions. As women becomemore available for public action, they shouldbe able to place more demands upon the state.Expressed in a diagrammatic way, thesequence presented in Figure 1 is anticipated.

Women can attain empowermentthrough different points of departure: emanci-patory knowledge, economic leverage, politi-cal mobilisation. While many poor womenwork outside the home to support their fami-lies and the tasks they perform are exhaustingand meagerly rewarded, access to incomeimproves their authority in the home.Working women, regardless of how inferiortheir position and small their income, have agreater sense of control over their lives andmore power and control over resources withinthe family than nonworking women (for adetailed ethnographic study comparing wor-king and nonworking women in six commu-nities in the Dominican Republic, see Finlay,1989). A study of 140 women homeworkersin Mexico City by Beneria and Roldan (1987)found that while no simple relationship exis-ted between women's economic resourcesand decision making, paid work increased thewomen's self-esteem and wives who made aconsiderable contribution to householdexpenditures (more than 40 percent) had aug-mented their domestic and conjugal decisionmaking.

Mothers' clubs make possible the creation offree and socially accepted spaces for women.Although many of their activities do not seek trans-formational objectives, the clubs can provide fertileground for empowering processes. The crucial pointabout these mothers' clubs, usually created under religiousauspices in Latin America and Africa, is that they representa large number of the collective spaces already occu-pied by women.

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Literacy skills can also be empowering, butthey must be accompanied by a process that isparticipatory and a content that questionsestablished gender relations, features that,unfortunately, do not characterise the greatmajority of literacy programs. Nonetheless,evidence from Asia and Latin America indi-cates that women with newly acquired litera-cy skills have moved into self-help organiza-tions ranging from neighborhood soup kit-chens to public health groups (Bown, 1990;Stromquist, 1993).

A description of two successful empo-werment projects for women in LatinAmerica might be helpful. The first projecttook place in Chile through the Rural Schoolof Women, which functioned in three ruralsites. The school provided working ruralwomen with a consiousness-raising experien-ce in the areas of family and work; it wasorganized so that the women spent severaldays together over a period of six months aspart of their training. This project relied oni n-depth interviews to produce life histo-ries of these working women that werelater used in group discussions. T h ewomen's increased awareness of genderasymmetries culminated in the drafting ofdemands specific to nine occupations filledby women in rural areas. These demands

were later disseminated among laborunions, farmers' cooperatives, and women'sgroups, thereby increasing knowledge aboutthese working women's conditions and needs.

The second project involved action-r e s e a r-ch activities in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Women in atotal of 94 mothers' clubs engaged in a process ofcollective history and understanding of the func-tions, strengths, and weaknesses of their org a n i z a-tions. The investigation, which lasted two years,resulted in the production of a widely popularp l a y, audiovisual materials, and reports that weredisseminated among all the other clubs. T h eknowledge and experience produced through thisproject led many of its leaders to organize the firstnational feminist meeting on "popular educationand the women's movement" in Brazil in 1986.(For a more detailed account of these experiences,see Stromquist,1993a).

The Chilean and the Brazilian pro-jects provides evidence that throughauthentic empowerment women willacquire a better understanding of theirworld, a clearer sense of their ability tochange it, and resources to develop leve-rage. In the immediate term they will notchange the world - hierarchies and centersof power will remain for a while - but gra-dually these empowered women can erodethe traditional power and redefine it.

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Participation in small groups with acollective agenda (e.g. humanrights economic survival, commu-nity improvement)

Micro levelGreater freedom and sense of perso-nal competence, reshaped mothe-rhood values, renegotiation ofdomestic relations

Understanding of domination, org a n i-zation, and mobilization ; setting up awider political agenda

Macro levelExpanded political agenda, newcollective arrangements, transfor-med citizenship

Fig. 1. Theorized Chain of Events in the Empowering Process

The Pedagogical Rationale forEmpowerment

The creation of critical minds requires a phy-sical and reflective space where new ideas may beentertained and argued, and were transformationaldemands may occur outside the surveillance ofthose who may seek to control these changes.

Sara Evans, an experienced member of thefeminist movement in the U.S., reviewing the socialroots of feminism in the 1950s and 1960s, conclu-ded that prerequisites to an "insurgent collectiveidentify" are the following:

1. social spaces within which members of anoppressed group can develop an independentsense of worth in contrast to their receiveddefinitions as second class or inferior citi-z e n s ;

2. role models of people breaking out of pat-terns of passivity;

3. an ideology that can explain the sources ofoppression, justify revolt, and provide avision of a qualitatively different future;

4. a threat to the new-found sense of self thatforces a confrontation with the inherited cul-tural definitions - in other words, it becomesimpossible for the individual to "make it onher own" and escape the boundaries of theoppressed group; and finally

5. a communication or friendship networkthrough which a new interpretation canspread, activating the insurgent conscious-ness into a social movement. (1979, pp.2 1 9-220; see also Freeman, 1975, pp. 44-7 0 ) .

The need for a social space, a "freeinstitutional space," for people with a sharedcondition was first discovered by people inthe U.S. movement of the political left of the1970s. Interestingly, recent findings fromo rganizational behavior support this strate-g y. Organizational theory and empirical evi-dence support the notion that knowledge

is socially constructed. A process of mobilizationand collective action develops a shared cognitivesystem and shared memories. These forms ofo rganizational cognition, which call for theunderstanding of events, open the opportunity forsocial interpretation as well as the development ofrelatively dense interpersonal networks for sharingand evaluating the information, thus creatinge ffective learning systems:

O rganizational learning can be relativelylow level or single loop, involving onlyminor adjustments and fine tuning of exis-ting organisational images and maps.C o n v e r s e l y, it can be reflected in the altera-tion of existing norms, assumptions, andvalues that govern action. Such learning isreferred to as high-level or double-loop lear-ning (Cousins and Earl, 1992, p. 401).

This collective learning, which draws uponthe theory of social learning of Albert Bandura, hasbeen argued to be one of the greatest benefits fromparticipatory evaluations in education (Cousinsand Earl, 1992). In my view, the rationale of lear-ning that occurs in women's groups is the same.

Empowerment can succeed only if it is amode of learning close to the women's everydayexperiences and if it builds upon the intellectual,emotional, and cultural resources the participantsbring to their social space. In the Chilean and theBrazilian projects mentioned earlier there was aclear focus upon knowing the experiences of thewomen in their everyday life; there was an equal-ly strong focus on making those experiences col-lective. This discussion of everyday life has anumber of consequences. When women talkto other women about their personal expe-riences, they validate it and construct a newr e a l i t y. When women describe their ownexperiences, they discover their role as agentsin their own world and also start establishingconnections between their micro realities andmacrosocial contexts. It should be clear thatthe discussion of personal lives, of needs anddreams, necessitates of a friendly, receptivesocial space. Here, the task of a group facili-tator becomes essential because this

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person must create a participatory processwhich provides constant encouragement andsupport to the members. The role of the faci-litator is not an easy one; training to createand maintain an empowerment process isnecessary.

Schrijvers proposes four criteria to assess anexisting degree of women's autonomy:

1. women's control of their own sexuality andfertility; forms of shared mothering, betweenwomen or between women and men;

2. a division of labor which allows women andmen equal access to, and control over themeans of production;

3. forms of cooperation and organization ofwomen which will enable and help them tocontrol their own affairs; and

4. positive gender conceptions which legitima-te women's sense of dignity and self-r e s p e c t ,and their right to self-d e t e r m i n a t i o n(Schrijvers. p.3).

These criteria approximate to the notion ofm u l t i-faceted empowerment. But they need to betoned down to address the concrete form in whichempowerment is likely to take place, that is, withina specific project or program that is org a n i z a t i o n a l-ly bounded. In this case, empowerment should beassessed by the number of facets the projectaddresses (cognitive, psychological, economic), thechanges it brings in terms of women's individualunderstanding and collective action, the strengthand stability of their organization, the renegotiationof authority it enables at the household and com-munity levels, and the range of objectives it identi-fies for future action.

Empowerment and Education

In talking about empowerment activi-ties I have focused exclusively on adultwomen and therefore considered only nonfor-mal education. Does it mean formal educa-tion has no empowering role for girls?

Formal education has substantialcontributions to make to an improved genderidentity through the removal of sexual stereo-types in textbooks, the fostering of positivegender identities through the curricula, theretraining of teachers to be gender sensitive,and the provision of nonsexist guidance andcounseling. These elements, in my view, arecrucial antecedents of empowerment, notempowerment itself. I prefer to reserve theconcept of empowerment for behaviors thattie understanding to a clear plan of action tovindicate the rights of women. If the conceptof empowerment is freely applied to changesthat are only cognitive or psychological,empowerment would not necessarily have tobe translated into a collective dimension. Andin the case of women's transformation, it isimperative that social structures be rearran-ged.

Barriers to Empowerment

While it is clear that many benefits may derivefrom collective action, it must also be rememberedthat participation in groups with a serious purposeof vindication will demand sustained involvement.

Poor women are busy women. Not only dothey spend much time and energy responding tofamily needs, but they also face conditions such asrigid authoritarian spouse control, violence athome, social expectations regarding motherhood,and unsafe community environments that limittheir physical mobility. Under these conditions,participation is fraught with obstacles and only afew will find it possible to become available forparticipation. The percentage of women thatwill participate under these circumstances isnot well known, but judging from rates of par-ticipation in related activities, particularly lite-racy groups which call for prolonged involve-ment, this proportion may be less than fivepercent of the possible population. Projectsworking on empowerment will be small intheir beginnings and take a substantial amountof time to mature and solidify. A m b i t i o u sexpectations of quick and mass appeal haveno basis in fact. How to make it possible for

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women to engage in empowering activitieswhile they face a critical everyday survival isa real challenge.The increased interest in empowermentcomes at a time when structural adjustmentpolicies are being implemented in many ofthe developing countries. There is strong evi-dence that these policies have had a negativeimpact on women in multiple dimensions oftheir lives, including education (seeCommonwealth Secretariat, 1989, and UNI-C E F,1987). In fact, the CommonwealthSecretariat report concluded that,

the types of s1:abilization and adjust-ment policies followed in the 1980shave brought to a standstill many of thepractical advances which women madeearlier, and have actually reversed someof the most fundamental of them likeeducation and health (p.105).

To break some of the barriers in empo-werment, the work of three sets of actors willbe needed: grassroots and feminist groups todo the outreach and work with marginalizedwomen who need support; women in deve-lopment and international institutions whocan provide the funds necessary to create pro-jects and programs with empowerment fea-tures; and women in academic circles, whowill contribute theoretical analysis of howgender is created and how it can be modifiedin society.

Avoiding the Mirage

Empowerment is needed to break anumber of real dichotomies affecting women:personal/collective, domestic/public, mate-rial/ideological. Women who are empoweredshould be able to stop the undesirable, totransform ongoing practices, and to createnew visions. While several governments andinstitutions are including the word empower-ment in their discourse, much less often isthere evidence of developing and fundingactivities that identify empowerment as agenuine goal.

This evidence is coming through acts ofboth omission and commission. NGOs,

particularly women-run NGC)s, are the orga-nisations most likely to work on empoweringwomen. As important elements of the civilsociety, they are groups where democraticpractices can begin to develop. Yet, the finan-cial support they receive from the state andfrom even progressive donor agencies isminiscule compared to their needs and theirpotential for expansion.

In the prescriptions for structuraladjustment in many of the developing coun-tries, scant attention is paid to the burdensthat the diminution of social services by thestate brings upon poor women. In a relatedmatter, the macro economic forces that createunderdevelopment and inequality and thatultimately affect the social and sexual divi-sion of labor are not a significant part of anyongoing international negotiation.

Evidence by omission comes fromrecent efforts to make the world more demo-cratic. Policy initiatives by USAID (AID,1990a and 1990b) and a blue-ribbon commit-tee study on the problems of democracy inLatin America (The Aspen Institute, 1992)recognize the importance of working withpublic institutions but offer only a weak ack-nowledgement of the need to work withwomen's groups so that they can developtheir autonomy and advance their agenda.

A key document in education, theWorld Declaration on Education for All, draf-ted at the international conference in Jomtienin March 1990, acknowledges the need forwomen to benefit from educational opportu-nities and considers that the "most urgentpriority is to ensure access to, and improvethe quality of, education for girls and women,and to remove every obstacle that hamperstheir active participation" (Inter-A g e n c yCommission, WCEFA, p. 45). Its plan ofaction calls for new partners, including therole of "non-governmental and other volunta-ry associations" (Inter-Agency Commission,WCEFA, 1990, p. 58). Yet, it is not clear howmuch support will be forthcoming forwomen-run NGOs, nor to what extent emanci-p a t o r y, empowerment-producing educationalprojects for adult women will be supportedpast a few that may involve literacy. Asign thatE FA will not pay significant attention to adult

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women is reflected in the agenda of theSecond EFA Forum, to be held in late 1993.The forum will focus on four factors: earlychildhood development, assessment of lear-ning, financing, and educational content(UNESCO, 1992, p. 6). These issues addressmostly formal education, much less questionsof empowerment.

Some important recommendations thatmove us beyond the definition and conceptualframework of empowerment must be consi-dered if the concept is to become a reality.The Commonwealth Secretariat's report citedearlier (1989) has clear recommendations fornew funding for women. They suggest the useof "structured markets" or the allotment of acertain proportion of credit, foreign exchan-ge, and public expenditures to women (p.106). This report also suggests strengtheningWomen in Development (WID) units andfunding directly women's organizations, fromtrade unions to cooperatives (pp. 128-129).These recommendations are concrete andsound. They should be heeded; otherwise,women's empowerment will remain a conceptin search of true supporters.

References

The Aspen Institute (1992) Convergence andC o m m u n i t y. The Americas in 1993. AReport of theI n t e r-American Dialogue. Washington, D.C.: T h eAspen Institute.

Beneria, Lourdes and Roldan, Martha (1987)The Crossroads of Class and Gender.Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Bown, Lalage (1990) Preparing the Future.Women Literacy and Development.ActionAid Development Report No. 4.Sommerset: ActionAid.

Carmichael, Stokely, and Hamilton, Charles(1967) Black Power. The Politics ofLiberation. New York: Random House.

Commonwealth Secretariat (1989)Engendering Adjustment for the 1990s.London: Commonwealth Secretariat.

Cousins, J. Bradley and Earl, Lorna (1992)The Case for Participatory Evaluation.Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis14 (14): 397-418.

Evans, Sara (1979) Personal Politics. NewYork: Alfred Knopf.

Finlay, Barbara (1990) The Women of Azua.Work and Family in the Dominican Republic.New York: Praeger.

Griffin, Keith (1988) Development Thoughtand Development Strategies. Riverside:University of California, mimeo.

Hall, Margaret (1992) Women andEmpowerment. Strategies for IncreasingA u t o n o m y. Washington, D.C.: PublishingCorporation.

Inter-Agency Commission, WCEFA (1990).Final Report. World Conference on Educationfor All. Meeting Basic Learning Needs. NewYork: Inter-Agency Commission, WCEFA.

Jack, Raymond (1992) Women andAttempted Suicide. Hove, U.K.: LawrenceEarlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Lomnitz, Larissa (1977) Networks ofMarginality. Life in a Mexican Shantytown.New York: Academic Press.

Lomnitz, Larissa (1984) Posicion de la mujeren la gran familia, unidad basica de solidari-dad en America Latina. In CEPAL (ed.), LaMujer en el Sector Popular Urbano. Santiago:Commission Economica para America Latinay el Caribe.

Rao, Aruna, Feldstein, Hilary, Cloud,Kathleen, and Staudt, Kathleen (1991)Gender Training and Development Planning.Learning from Experience. ConferenceReport. Bergen: The Chr. Michelsen Institute.

Schrijvers, Joke (1991) Women's Autonomy:From Research to Policy. A m s t e r d a m :

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Institute for Development Research,University of Amsterdam, mimeo.

Stromquist, Nelly (1988) Women's Educationin Development: From Welfare toEmpowerment. Convergence 21(4): 5-17.

Stromquist, Nelly (1993a) Education for theEmpowerment of Women: Two LatinAmerican Experiences. In Vincent D'Oyleyand Adrian Blunt (eds.), Development andInnovation in Third World Education.Vancouver: Pacific Education Press.

Stromquist, Nelly (l993b) Women's Literacyand Empowerment in Latin America. InCarlos Torres (ed.), Education in LatinAmerica Albert Park, Australia: JamesNicholas Publishers.

UNESCO (1992) EFA 2000 No. 9. Paris:UNESCO.

UNICEF (1987) The Invisible Adjustment.Poor Women and the Economic Crisis.Santiago: UNICEF Regional Office for theAmericas and the Carribean.

USAID (199Oa) Family and Development.Washington, D.C.: USAID, December.

USAID (199Ob) The Democratic Initiative.Washington, D.C.: USAID, December.

Note1. This section draws in part from my pre -vious work (Stromquist, 1988).

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Let me begin by thanking the UNESCO forgiving me the opportunity to think aloud witha group who shares a common interest theempowerment of women. There are more ofus now thinking about the subject but still notenough. I have been asked to talk aboutempowerment in the light of my practicalexperiences in Southeast Asia where with thesupport of the DANIDA (Government ofDenmark) and with the International LabourOffice as the implementing agency, we aremaking efforts to upgrade the working andliving conditions of women workers in theputting out system.

I have been assigned to address twoobjectives:

a) to have a definition of and a conceptualframework for understanding women'sempowerment;

b) to have a tentative list of indicators(manifestations) and processes ormechanisms of empowerment.

My task is obviously to abstract frommy practical and concrete experiences andhelp crystallise the concept of empowerment.For this reason I shall be moving from theconcrete to the abstract and from the particu-lar to the general from time to time.

To make my own thinking processeasier, I thought three basic questions can andshould be asked: what is empowerment, whyempowerment, and how does one go aboutthe business of empowerment?

Let me go about my assigned task bygiving you a brief background of what I do inthe field. Hence my discussion will be in twoparts. Part I presents what I do in the field.Part II will be an attempt to interpret thoseexperiences, learn from them and help clarifyand understand the notion of empowerment.

Women's Empowerment In the Making

The Case of Women Workers in the PuttingOut System

Ka Lilay weaves sawali or palm leaves for asubcontractor in her remote village in thePhilippines. But she is not paid by heremployer, who happens to be a subcontrac-tor/trader for an exporter. Unable to deliveron time for reasons of his own, the subcon-tractor1 could not collect his fees. Then, hedecided not to pay thirty sawali weavers wor-king for him on the pretext that their productsare of poor quality. Can Ka Lilay and herco-workers complain and file a case in courtand have their wages paid?

Ibu Hassana has been embroidering tra-ditional costumes in a far-flung village inIndonesia since she was twelve. At thirty-five, her eyes are blurred from her day to daythreading and stitching. Too poor, she couldnot buy a pair of glasses, least of all, consultan eye doctor. Can she ask her employer togive her glasses or to foot her doctor's bill?

There are many more of such cases.The common denominator is that the victimsare mostly women who work under subcon-tracting or putting out arrangements. Puttingout is a system whereby traders and middle-men, with little investment on their part, col-lect orders for the production of a good or ser-vice and assign the jobs to women in the vil-lages or urban slums of many developingcountries in Southeast Asia such as Thailand,Indonesia and the Philippines. In turn thewomen produce the goods or services fromtheir homes or nearby premises, making themknown as homebased workers.

Lacking the legal status of a worker dueto the absence of formal employer-employeerelationship, homebased workers make goods

23

SOME REFLECTIONS ON THE EMPOWERMENT OF WOMEN

Lucita Lazo

and services under special arrangements.They work in their own homes without a writ-ten contract under the putting out system orsubcontracting arrangement. Their homes areactually extensions of factories and for allintents and purposes, they are part of the fac-tory. Yet while they are part of factory pro-duction activities, they are not counted in thebenefits extended to factory workers. In thissense, they are workers in limbo.Homeworkers' working set-up is highly infor-mal; they do not have maternity and sickleaves, and medical and social insurance andsimilar such benefits. Homebased workers inSoutheast Asia, like their kindred in SouthAsia, are isolated and unorganized. There isno single unit or body of government thatpays attention to their welfare.

Could they ever hope to have any formof social protection?

Against this social backdrop, theInternational Labour Office launched a subre-gional development project entitled "RuralWomen Workers in the Putting Out System,"hereafter referred to as the homeworkers' pro-ject. The project covers three Southeast Asiancountries and is funded by DANIDA(Government of Denmark).

Purpose of the Project

The project seeks to enhance the employmentand promote the working welfare of homeba-sed women workers, especially those in therural areas. The two-pronged project goal wasto ensure jobs and humane, nonexploitativeconditions of work. This is a tall order. Manytimes, the protection of good conditions ofwork jeopardises the very jobs of those beingprotected, especially women. In labour sur-plus countries, any move to increase wagescould mean the potential loss of jobs.

The ultimate purpose of the project isto extend social protection to the women,without losing their jobs or source of inco-me. This could mean a number of thingssuch as: increasing their piece rates andwages, reducing exploitation by the midd-leman, reducing dependence on the midd-leman for job orders, affording health,

housing, education and other appropriatebenefits.

Increasing piece rates implies having tobargain with an employer. Alone, a homewor-ker' s chance of winning is nil given the com-parative strength of the employer.Homeworkers are isolated, fragmented andunorganised. To match the strength of theemployer, they would have to marshal theirindividual strengths into a collective.Organisation becomes necessary.

For some homebased workers, the workstops when their employers stop sendingthem orders. The only alternative is for themto produce and sell to the market directlywhen there are no such orders. But this meanshaving the means to buy raw materials andthe connection to other buyers and marketoutlets. Many homeworkers are poor, asset-less, illiterate, and have neither marketingskills nor connections to markets and buyers.Without a collateral and a guarantor, theycould not borrow from the banks and formalfinancial institutions. With little knowledgeof markets and marketing, they could onlysell on a limited scale to the surrounding vil-lages or within their villages. Add to this theirgeneral lack of self-esteem and self-confiden-ce, they are hard put into starting an enterpri-se of their own. Access and control overessential resources and social services is oneobstacle in their way.

Exploitation by traders and middlemencomes in the form of paying extremely lowpiece rates and demanding delivery on time,sometimes penalising the women if they failto deliver and abandonment of the obligationto pay for whatever reason. Further, miscella-neous costs of production such as electricity,work space and the like are passed on to thehomeworker. However, some traders couldearn huge profits by selling at high costs tothe exporters and reducing as far as they canthe wages of the homebased petty producers.How can the homebased workers get awayfrom unfair treatment? With theexporter/employer located in the city andrelying only upon the middleman and traders,the homebased rural women oftentimes donot even know who their employer is. Whowould give them social protection?

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The situation I have described thus farshows you the state of powerlessness of thewomen workers in the putting out system.Our concern for them arises from an under-lying belief that society has a moral obliga-tion to help the disadvantaged and to redresspoverty and ensure equity. And empower-ment is argued to be the appropriate mode ofdoing this.

The Notion of Empowerment• Empowerment denotes a process of

acquiring, providing, bestowing theresources and the means or enabling theaccess to and control over s u c hmeans and re s o u rc e s . This impliesthat the individual has the potential toacquire power upon her own initiativeor that another party could make itpossible for her to have power. Thispoint is vital because it identifies thepotential agents of empowerment: it isthe person who is to be empowered orit could be another person or agent.Empowerment could be a self propelled

and self-propelling process.If by some gift of God, it dawns on awoman that her life could becomebetter if she tried to act upon suchthoughts, link up with the source ofresources, then she is facilitating herownempowerment

• Empowerment enables the person togain insight and have an awareness ofwhat is undesirable and unfavorableabout her current situation, perceive abetter situation, the possibilities ofattaining it and realising what is withinher reach and what she could do to getto a better situation. T h i scharacterisation of empowermentimplies that the process could involve achange of perceptions about the self,the environment, and the relationship ofthe self and the environment. It is aprocess that involves the creation ofimages, the generation of a "push" toact or what psychologists call motiva

tion. Change of perceptions

implies a change of attitude and a change in one's outlook in life.

• Empowerment enables women to gene-rate choices and as an outcome ofhaving such choices, she acquires leve-rage and bargaining power.Empowered, a woman would take stepsto find and/or create options or find andlink to the means to find the options. Anexternal party could help women findand create such options. When one hasoptions, one can a) choose not to followthe pressures and demands of the morepowerful party; b) ask and negotiatewith the other party to change the situa-tion and make it moreacceptable.

For example, women homeworkerswho can link and sell to other buyers can havethe possibility of refusing bad deals such asexploitative and low-paying orders from tra-ders and middlemen. But since the ThirdWorld countries are labour surplus markets,the women's options are stunted, making for asituation of no choice for the women.

Empowerment makes a person able tochoose and able to demand. It makes the per-son able to choose her goals, generate oppor-tunities to reach the goals and determine theoverall direction of her life. This makes thenotion of empowerment a fascinating andpowerful one.

In the Third World, some women haveno possibility to choose their own life goalsand this indicates a state of powerlessness.We are aware for instance of societies andtribes where women are committed to marria-ge by their parents even before they are bornor ready for it. By the norm of their society,this mode of behaviour is acceptable; yet itmay not always be for the betterment or hap-piness of the woman. Still the woman has nochoice and is therefore powerless under thesituation. Hers is to obey and not to protest.

• Empowerment enables a woman to gainrelative strength as a result of havingchoices and bargaining power. T h eConsequences could be reduction of

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invisibility as she is able to demand attentionfrom those concerned, especially decisionand policy makers, to generate the appropria-te positive responses, reduction of vulnerabi-lity, reduction or elimination of exploitability,availability and use of social services andresources. Ultimately, empowerment shouldlead to the improvement of women'ssocio-economic status.

• Simply put, tautological though it maybe, empowerment is the acquisition orthe bestowing of power. The variablesof power are the variables of empower-ment as well. Power is a complex qua-lity that gives the person the authorityand the strength to exercise control andinfluence. Power arises from posses-sing a complex combination of personaland physical resources that is beingbestowed or being acquired in the pro-cess of empowerment.

Power implies a relationship. There isone individual or party who possesses (or has

greater chance of accessing and avai-ling) a physical, economic, social and/or psy-chological resource and/or quality whichbecomes the basis for the exercise of controland influence over another. Conversely, in thepower relationship, there is an individual orparty who is the "weaker" whom the otherparty controls.

In layman's parlance, power meanshaving the capacity and the means to directone's life towards desired social, political andeconomic goals and/or status. It is the abilityto influence events and control outcomes inthe environment. The crux of power lies inthe possession of and/or access to andcontrol over means and resources.

Let us digress for a while and try toapply this concept to the case of the womenhomeworkers, and let us look at the variablesof power. Women workers in the putting outsystem are powerless vis-a-vis theiremployers, the traders and middlemen. Thewomen homeworkers' powerlessness can betraced to a number of factors. An indicativelist is shown in Figure 1

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Fig. I. Illustrative Analysis of the Variables of Power

Women's state of powerlessness isborne by a combination and interaction ofenvironmental and personal factors. In thecase of the women homeworkers, the condi-tions of work in the putting out system inten-sify or aggravate the disadvantage they sufferlike most other women in society. This makesit necessary to pay special attention to theirconditions of work.

Women's powerlessness arises fromtheir illiteracy, lack of awareness, lack ofinformation and knowledge about marketsand lack of skills, their overall lack of self-esteem and self-confidence, their lack ofmoney, their lack of job opportunities, lack ofconnections to those who can provide jobsand lend them money to start their own smallenterprise. The women's very lack of aware-ness and insight into their circumstancesaggravate their powerlessness. They remainin a state of blissful ignorance and most sur-vive in the belief that they cannot changetheir poor situation. As a result of thislong-standing poverty and powerlessness thewomen lose their sense of control over theirenvironment. They have low efficacy, mea-ning they lack belief in their own ability tocontrol and influence the outcomes andevents in their world.

That the women work individually andsilently in their homes reinforces their power-lessness. They are said to be isolated, atomi-sed and fragmented. This way they are unableto share and discuss their common concerns,problems and solutions. With little exposureto the outside world as they are preoccupiedwith their day to day chores, the rural womenhomeworkers are not aware of possibilitiesout there. Ignorance and lack of awarenessperpetuate their powerlessness.

The women's circumstances alsocontribute to their powerlessness. Forexample, in underdeveloped and weak econo-mies, labour exceeds job supply and limitsthe job options for the general populace.Coupled with the prevailing gender ideologythat discriminates against women, the joboptions for women are even narrower. L a c kof public awareness about the burdens ofwomen and the conditions of their lifeand work make for benign neglect by thegovernment so that there is no policy or

programme to promote women homeworkers'welfare.

Similarly, household conditions eitherprecipitate, perpetuate or aggravate women'spowerlessness. For example, limitedresources for education will give preferenceto education of sons than daughters. Womenare then consigned to illiteracy.

The case of a woman homeworkerdemonstrates a situation where the workingconditions keep the woman invisible to thegovernment and policy makers because of herisolation. Her lack of a work contract, anambiguous status as a worker, no clear cute m p l o y e r-employee relationship and nodirect contact with her employer altogethermake her vulnerable and exploitable. Shedoes not have the benefit of social protection- all of which are manifestations or symptomsof powerlessness.

• Empowerment is a moving state; it is acontinuum that varies in degrees ofpower. It is relative. The diagram belowvisualises this concept. One can move-from an extreme state of absolute lackof power to the other extreme of havingabsolute power. The extreme ends ofthe continuum are of course "idealised"states.

Empowerment

Powerlessness < ---------- > Powerfulness

The power continuum

N o w, the practical question is howcan women be empowered?

Again, let me answer the questionby telling you of what we have done inthe field. Then we shall come back andextract the mechanisms and manifesta-tions of empowerment.

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Making Empowerment Happen forHomeworkers in the Philippines

The strategy is a combined and iterative pro-cess of doing studies on the situation ofhomeworkers, educating and Paining them tostudy and research their own situation andformulate solutions and appropriate practicalactions, organising and teaching the home-workers to organise other homeworkers. Inaddition, they are also trained on the produc-tivity enhancement of their economic pro-jects.

At the grassroots, the actions proceededin three stages:

1) selecting, preparing and equipping thecommunity workers and trainers for theprocess of organising;

2) actual organising of the homeworkers;

3) networking and consolidating thehomebased organisations and streng-thening them by increasing their accessto financing, markets and essentialsocial services.

A vital feature of the project strategy isthe active involvement of the target group.The homeworkers themselves? with guidancefrom the women academics and activists andthe ILO, co-determine the direction of theirdevelopment. In collecting background infor-mation at the village level, the women learnhow to formulate questions, conduct inter-views, collect, analyse and interpret data.This is the essence of the participatory actionresearch approach.

At the individual level, the homewor-kers' project could have short and long termimpacts. Presently, the main concern is tocreate and establish an institution whichcould give the women homeworkers collecti-ve strength and a collective voice; in short apower base.

The practical actions consisted ofeducation and training in organising andhow to do participatory action research,development of training materials andparalegal training of the homebased wor-kers in the various provinces. These activi-ties prepared the women for the massive

organising work to be done. Thenceforth,educating, training and organising activitiescontinue to be pursued and the campaign forhomeworkers' welfare in the Philippines wasborn. Over the long term, the project seeks toimprove the economic and social status of thewomen through education, training and orga-nisation, all of which are geared towardsempowerment of the rural women. It alsoseeks to establish linkages with governmentand non-government organisations (GO-NGO), to gain increased access to servicesessential to homebased producers and to esta-blish within the organisations services andfacilities for women homebased workers.

In summary, the project activities revol-ved around three action areas:

a) Education, Training and Research ofCommunity Workers and Women;

b) Organising of the Homebased Workers;and

c) Strengthening the Organisation andEmpowerment of Homeworkers.

The Target Group

The rural women homeworkers in the Philippinesmostly operate as unorganised and isolated workers.Although they are by law considered to have legalstatus as workers and are entitled to protection, inpractice they do not enjoy the benefits which regu-lar factory workers have. Their being isolated andu n o rganised make it difficult to apply and enforcethe protective provisions of the law.

There is no registry of homeworkersalthough there is a roster of subcontractors atthe Department of Trade and Industry. For thepurpose of labor protection and monitoring ofthe application of labour laws on homewor-kers, there is no practical administrative sys-tem yet.

Homebased workers have no institutio-nal means for voicing their commonconcerns, influencing national policy andprogrammes, pressing for their rights andredressing their grievances.

Women homeworkers are not membersof the trade unions although lately, the tradeunions have become more accommodatingtowards them. At the international level, the

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International Federation of Plantation andAgricultural Workers (IFPA AW) and theInternational Confederation of Trade Unions(ICFTU) are both taking cognizance of theissue. However, it may take time for concreteactions at the field level to take effect.

Awareness-raising Workshops Meetings andDialogues

One drawback of the project was the lack ofpublic awareness of the plight of homewor-kers. To overcome this, meetings, workshopsand dialogues were held. For the first time,homeworkers' concerns were publicly presen-ted to the government and other concernedorganisations. Policy recommendations and anational plan of action were accordingly for-mulated.

Women homeworkers listed their needsand concerns, effectively setting the directionof future practical actions. Their participationwas initiated and underscored in the series ofconsultative meetings launched upon the ini-tiative of a homeworker, later to become thepresident of the National Network ofHomeworkers, locally known asPambansang Ta g a p a g-ugnay ng mgaManggagawa sa Bahay or PATA M A B A .Having attended the subregional technicalmeeting in Bangkok in June 1989, she hat-ched the idea of conducting consultations.

One hundred and eighty garmentshomeworkers from Bulacan province atten-ded the consultative meetings from June toSeptember 1989. In these meetings, thewomen aired, identified, discussed and docu-mented their common problems and theirissues and most important, proposed solu-tions.

On 1 October 1989, the NationalCoordinating Council of the NationalNetwork of Homeworkers was formed, thefirst leap forward in the homeworkers' cam-paign.

The women ' s collective recommenda-tions were presented to the National TripartiteWorkshop on 2 - 6 October 1989.Representatives of government, NGOs, wor-kers and employers organisations attendedthe workshop.2

The research findings earlier mentionedwere presented in the workshop and were

vital in initiating the debate on what to do inorder to alleviate the plight of the homewor-kers. Notably, the homeworkers contributionin the debate proved highly instructive to theparticipants, especially those in government.The women homeworkers had a position oftheir own which they read before the LabourDepartment secretary.

Awakening of Government Consciousness

Upon the request of the Bureau of Womenand Young Workers, the Katipunan ng mgaBabaing Pilipina (KaBaPa) took the LabourUndersecretary in charge of LabourStandards on a field trip to the homeworkers'sites (i.e. papier mâché makers and garmentsewers), prior to his attendance and chair-manship of the ILO Committee of Experts'Meeting on the Social Protection ofHomeworkers in October 1990 in Geneva.These village visits were featured in theOctober 1990 issue of the Philippine Laboura publication of the Department of Labour.

Media Campaigns

PATAMABA printed its brochure forwider distribution in order to inform thepublic about the existence of the homewor-kers' cause and network. With the assistanceof KaBaPa, it now publishes its own newslet-ter called Bahay Ugnayan which featuresarticles on homework-related issues. The firstissue was distributed during the first nationalcongress of homeworkers in May 1991.

Radio and television interviews as wellas press releases and articles on homeworkhave been shown and issued since the subre-gional project was launched. Such activitiesare continuously pursued along with thenational workshops as well as the subregionalworkshop hosted by the KaBaPa-PATAMABA on 7 - 10 May 1991.

The subregional workshop was a forumfor exchanging experiences among the parti-cipating countries in the ILO-D A N I D Asubregional project. The KaBaPa-PATAMABA, with the technical assistance ofthe Philippine Department of Labour andEmployment, organised the workshop andfinancial sponsorship of the ILO, the

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Netherlands Government, the University ofthe Philippines' College of Social Work andCommunity Development and the Women'sStudies Center.

Education and Training

The women were trained in participatoryaction research which they used as their toolfor entry into the organising of the women.Using data gathered during the research, thewomen could determine how to approach,assemble and mobilise the women homewor-kers in the community, and who should beapproached.

Two three-day workshops on participatoryaction research (PAR) were conducted at theUniversity of the Philippines School for Labor &Industrial Relations (UP-SOLAIR) in collaborationwith the Bureau of Rural Workers of theDepartment of Labor and Employment. Duringthese workshops, the participants were also instruc-ted on how to prepare video documentations. Fiftywomen homeworkers were trained in participatoryresearch and documentation in two workshops.

The training led to the formulation of acommunity survey form by a team of KaBaPaofficials/leaders and the DOLE-Bureau ofWomen and Young Workers staff. These sur-veys were conducted alongside the focussedgroup discussions (FGDs) in the various pro-ject sites where organising was to be done.The FGD is a technique where the womenhomeworkers assemble in small groups andwith the help of a facilitator, they expresstheir ideas and feelings openly but they focusdiscussions on issues that relate to certainthemes/topics such as gender issues, home-workers' working conditions, homeworkers'needs, methods of and approaches to organi-sing in their respective community and thelike. FGDs were conducted in 18 provincesinvolving some 350 homeworkers. Throughthe FGDs, data pertinent to organising workwere collected and community profiles weremade.3

In collaboration with the UP L a wC e n t e r, the KaBaPa-PATA M A B A d e s i g n e da paralegal training and trained twentyh o m e w o r k e r-members of the PATA M A B Aduring the first course on 22 November

1990. Primers for homeworkers were compi-led and the Secretary of Labour's paper on the"State of Jurisprudence on Homeworkers"and appropriate sections of the Labour Codewere translated into Pilipino, the national lan-guage, to ensure that the homeworkers them-selves understand the rules.4

Creating Legal Awareness

Thirty-five members of KaBaPa andPATAMABA from 11 provinces attended aparalegal orientation and training seminar on22 - 24 November 1990 sponsored by theUniversity of the Philippines Law Center.The concept and application of paralegalfunctions was introduced to the communityorganisers within the context of the home-workers' campaign.

Organising and Networking

Upon the initiative of the women home-worker-members of the KaBaPa, 29 womenhomeworkers representing eleven (11) pro-vinces met on 1 October 1989 in the provinceof Bulacan. Note that this meeting was prece-ded by the consultative meetings mentionedabove. They then formed the national net-work of homeworkers which was called thePambansang Ta g a p a g-ugnay ng mgaManggagawa sa Bahay.

On 21 October 1989, the DPATAMA-BA ad hoc national coordinating committeemet to draft its two-year workplan, January1990 to December 1991. The work program-me included the creation of consciousnessraising and training materials to enable thePATAMABA networkers to organise home-workers in various provinces all over thecountry. The process of developing trainingmaterials was participatory homeworkersrelated their living and working conditions;researchers provided data and organisers sha-red their experiences in organising.

On 1 October 1990, PATA M A B A c e l e-brated its first anniversary and held a confe-rence at the UP School of Labour andIndustrial Relations during which theCoordinating Committee presented a progressreport. By then, PATA M A B A already had

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amassed some 1,000 members and was orga-nising the subcontractors. In the conference,the homeworkers decided to convene aCongress on Labour Day, 1 May 1991. PATA-MABA registered itself with the Securitiesand Exchange Commission before its natio-nal congress in May 1991 which gave it alegal personality as an organisation. The net-work then spun off from the KaBaPa and nowexists as an independent organisation. It alsoregistered itself as a rural organisation withthe Bureau of Rural Workers of DOLE.

The PATAMABA functions as an auto-nomous body though it is still being suppor-ted by the KaBaPa until it acquires adequateinstitutional capacity. It co-chairs theNational Steering Committee (NSC), an adhoc national committee that advocates pro-motion of homeworkers' welfare and empo-werment in the country.

Mechanisms and Manifestations ofE m p o w e r m e n t

1. Awareness Raising

The conscientising and media campaignshave made the women homeworkers, govern-ment authorities and policy makers, the NGOsector and the general public aware of theplight of homebased workers and the exploi-tation in the putting out system. Through thecampaigns, the homeworkers have generatedsympathy, enabled the women to call atten-tion to the Department of Labour and launchtheir advocacy for policy reforms. As a directresult the Labour Department has formulatedand promulgated Department Order No. 5which embodies the implementing rules andregulations of the Labor Code provisions onsubcontracting.

Through this mechanism the push fororganising and networking among the home-workers was reinforced. More women areinterested in joining the network.

Outcomes/Manifestations/Indicators

• Consultations, meetings, workshops• Media campaigns

• Field visits• Conscientising of the women• Enabled the women to generate public

sympathy; call the attention of govern-ment, the Department of Labour in par-ticular and pave the way for policyreforms.

Prior to 1989 when field actions werelaunched, there were few studies on home-workers, the homeworkers issues were hardlymentioned in the media, the Department ofLabour paid no or little attention to the issueand did not consider it a priority concern.Homeworkers are invisible no more:

• Numerous press releases, radio-T Vplugs, radio interviews of homeworkersand government officials on homewor-king topics.

• For the first time, high labour depart-ment officials went to visit homewor-kers in some homeworking sites.

2. Education and Training

Through this mechanism the women haveacquired varied skills: how to organize, howto conduct participatory research, how toplan, how to make proposals, how to net-work, how to manage microenterprises andthe like. Now, there is growing self-confiden-ce among the homeworkers.

This is demonstrated in PATAMABA'sspinning off from the KaBaPa, its motherorganisation in 1991. With the skills theyhave learned from the KaBaPa, they are nowable to run their organisation and pursue pro-grammes independently. They occasionallyseek guidance from the KaBaPa and theDepartment of Labour as well as other agen-cies whenever they deem necessary.

The homeworker fellow to the Self-Employed Women's Association in India has giventhe women ideas, particularly in setting up their ownbank in the long run. The women agreed to savefrom their own pockets to create a seed fund fortheir future Women s Bank.

With their acquired skills, the womenattend meetings and speak ups and no longerhesitate to voice their concerns and their

31

expectations of government. They come forthwith suggestions and solutions.

Outcomes/Manifestations/Indicators

• The women learned skills on how toorganise, how to make proposals, howto conduct participatory action resear-ch, how to network, how to lobby andadvocate, how to manage microenter-prises and the like.

• A homeworker was sent as a fellow toobserve the workings of the SelfEmployed Women's Association inAhmedabad, India.

• Enabled the women to train otherwomen at the grassroots.

• Enabled the women to prepare commu-nity profiles, obtain data they need toprepare for their organising and networ-king activities.

• Enabled the women to prepare propo-sals by themselves.

• Gave the women self-confidence inapproaching authorities such as govern-ment officials and donor agencies tosolicit and appeal for aid. This can beseen as a step towards access tomeans and resources.

• Gave the women courage to speak up,tell the authorities about their needs,declare that they have rights as workers.Despite limited resources, grassroots-women were trained in the variousskills using a Training the Trainers'approach.

• Proposals prepared by PATA M A B Asubmitted to ILO and other donors.Grants and donations were obtainedfrom NGOs like the OXFAM, KULUand WAND-DIWATA and private indi-viduals.

• For the first time, a fellowship is awar-ded to a lowly-educated person. Mostfellowships are for those with at leasthigh school education.

• PATAMABA officials drafted a posi-tion paper which they read to theSecretary of Labour in the 1989 natio-nal workshop; formulated a Declarationof Rights.

• The fellow to SEWA persuaded herhomeworker friends and members ofPATAMABA to contribute some moneyevery month to generate a seed fund fortheir future Women Workers' Bank.This is ongoing now.

• PATAMABAspun off from the KaBaPaits mother organisation, in 1991 ando rganised their second nationalcongress in May 1992 by themselves.

3. Organising and Networking

Organising and networking are the majormechanisms for the homeworkers. PATAMA-BA and the Homeworkers' Center are physi-cal evidences of the collectivisation of thewomen homeworkers, giving them a collecti-ve voice. Their collective strength can be har-nessed and mobilised in dealing withemployers and middlemen, especially theexploitative ones.

Through the organisation, the home-workers have gained political power. Theyare able to seek representation in governmentorganisations, public fora, national planningwhere policies and decisions affecting themare made.

Outcomes/Manifestations/Indicators

• The women met, discussed andconsulted one another and agreed toform the national network of homewor-kers locally known as the PambansangTagapag-ugnay ng mga Manggagawasa Pilipinas in October 1989.• GO-NGO collaboration between thehomeworkers'sector was formalisedwith the creation of the NationalSteering Committee (NSC) chaired bythe Undersecretery of the Departmentof Labour and co-chaired by the PATA-MABA president. KaBaPa and othergovernment agencies are represented inthe NSC.• The Homeworkers' Center, a smallrented apartment in Quezon City, wasinaugurated in October 1992 and serves

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as the national headquarters and officeof the PATAMABA.

• Enabled the women to collectivise andreduce their isolation, fragmentationand atomisation. From a small ad hocgroup of 29 members that formed thenetwork, there were more than 1,000women homeworker members in May1991. By August 1991, there were some2,000 members.

• Enabled the women homeworkers togain political power and influence theDepartment of Labour in its policymaking and to access to programmesand services government.

• Enabled the women to have a voice andthe PATA M A B A is represented in manymeetings and policy making fora. Enabledthe women to have a collective vision ofhow their "future" could be improved.

• Enabled the women to initiate contactswith the officials of the Social SecuritySystem to explore how the homeworkerscould be given social protection

• Enabled the women to access to vitalinformation and through the NSC,contacts with the source of aid and ser-vices is facilitated for them.

• Homeworkers are officially visible ando fficially recognised. The PATA M A B Ahas a legal personality since it is registeredwith the Securities and ExchangeCommission as an organisation and as arural workers' organisation with theBureau of Rural Workers of theDepartment of Labour.

• The Labour Department's Bureau ofWomen and Young Workers conducted asurvey on homeworkers. The Bureau ofRural Workers of the same department hasassigned a small unit to handle homewor-k e r-related matters.

• Through the National SteeringCommittee's Research Group and withthe help of the Labour Department, thehomeworkers are seeking to be inclu-ded in the labour force survey andto be classified as "workers" and not asmere unpaid family labour as happenedin previous years. This is still ongoing

and will hopefully eliminate the statist-cal invisibility of the women.

• A KaBaPa woman member is represen-ting the sector in the updating of themedium term development plan of thecountry.

• The women homeworkers attend themeetings of the Labour, Income andEmployment Statistics inter-a g e n c ycommittee. They also attend meetingslike those on Wo m a n h e a l t h ,Environment.

• The homeworkers drafted a five-yearplan from May 1991 to April 1996,indicative of a growing sense of effica-cy among the women and a conti-nuing hope for reform and change andu l t i m a t e l y, improvement of theirsocio-economic situation.

4. Socio-economic Aid

Through the organisation, a revolvingfund for socio-economic projects has beenmade available. The homeworker groups invarious communities have gotten loans fortheir microenterprises. The PATAMABA hasalso solicited 400 US dollars for its memberswho were victims of the eruption of MountPinatubo.

Outcomes/Manifestations/Indicators

• Revolving Funds are made available tosupport the microenterprises of thewomen.

• Marketing Assistance • Product Development • Enabled the women to avail of loans at

low interest with the least red tapepossible.

• Sixteen economic project proposalswere submitted by March 1991. Someof these have been granted loans. Forexample, the piggery project inZambales province using a revolvingfind, is reportedly working well. Thepiglets have been returned and additio-nal piglets are being farmed to otherhomeworker households.

• Twenty five women homeworker/

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members of the garments cooperativein one province, Bulacan, were given agrant in early 1989. The money wasused to finance the production activitiesof the cooperative which was formed to"fight subcontractors who exploit gar-ment sewers and to awaken communi-ties on the plight of homeworkers."This project was not too successful in1989 to 1990. However, the women'sgroup turned it around by investingtheir remaining funds into rice graintrading.

• The homeworkers have broughtsamples of their products at theHomeworkers' Center where they havea show nook.

• The homeworkers organised bazaarsduring the meetings and workshopsorganised by PATAMABA.

• The number of groups and women avai-ling of the revolving fund is increasingand loans will be further granted in1993.

• Increases in earnings and incomes ofhomeworkers is reportedly occuring butthere is no hard data at the moment.This will be obtained in 1993.

During the field visits to the project sites,the Evaluation Mission (in March 1991) foundan "awareness among homeworkers when itcomes to the importance of organising, but withrespect to access to resources such as credit andmarketing, the awareness among the homewor-kers on how to go about it seemed to be limited."

In 1993, the socio-economic projects willbe further strengthened by product and marke-ting consultancies. Access to such services fromthe government is somewhat difficult because ofthe limited resources of the agencies concerned.The demand for the service is great but througha special programme to be developed by thePATAMABA, access to such consultancy couldbe facilitated.

By making economic aid available, thewomen can hopefully create and make theoption of self-employment work in their favor.This should reduce their exploitability a n ddependence on the middleman.

Summing up and Concluding Remarks

Empowerment can have overt and covert out-comes. For the latter, it can only be cautiouslyinferred from the actions taken by the women.The indicators of empowerment could be verysubtle. For example, by all indications, thewomen's sense of efficacy has been awakenedbut this can only be inferred from theiractions. Their continuing pursuit, support andcommitment to the cause of the PATA M A B Ais evidence of this. During the inauguration oftheir Homeworkers' Center in October 1992,Ka Ester Tina, the PATA M A B A p r e s i d e n ttearfully stated: "It is the first time in yearsthat they can ever claim they have an office tocome to when they need something or whenthey have problems and concerns." The tearswere of extreme gladness mixed with disbe-lief. They never thought it could happen.

Empowerment is "enablement" bychanging the person, changing structures,replacing or recreating conventional institu-tions and/or rearranging the environment.

Empowerment transpires over time andu s u a l l y, it is not instantaneous. As the womenhomeworkers are empowered they move fromsilence to articulation, from invisibility torecognition, and from isolation to org a n i s a-t i o n .

Empowerment means building aspira-tions, hopes and expectations. Thus empo-werment keeps the women going!

Lessons from the field on empowerment

The empowerment process entails buildingup the women ' s arsenal of resources physi-cal, economic, social and psychological. Theage-old strategy of minimising or reducingweaknesses and enhancing strengths remainsas valid as ever.

Empowerment means giving thewomen the capacity to give themselvespower, even if only psychologically.

Empowerment means giving thewomen the means enabling the women toavail of vital resources and services

34

Empowerment of women is maximisedby collectivisation. Hence, organising makesa lot of good sense. Within the context of theorganisation, the weakness can be reduced bycomplementation. Individually, one woman'sstrength could be the other's weakness andvice-versa. The strengths could be put toge-ther and the individual weaknesses pluggedvia the group or the collective.

In practical terms, women's weaknessescould be plugged by awareness raising,conscientising, organising, education andtraining.

Women's greatest resources are them-selves - their personal capacities includingtheir self-image. To be empowered, womenmust learn to respect themselves and toregard themselves as capable.

• Improvement of their self image andtheir self appraisals.

• Increasing their literacy.• Upgrading their practical skills techni-

cal, management, entrepreneurial, lob-bying, advocacy, pressurising, etc.

The Input Side

Personal Capacity Building

OrganisingEducation and TrainingParalegal Training

Facilitating Access to Social Services andResources

Availment of Resources and ServicesProduct Consultancy and MarketingAssistanceCredit SchemesRevolving Funds

The Output Side

Policy Reform and Advocacy - changesin the public attitudes and government poli-cies Socio-Economic Upgradation of theWomen's Status - changes in the women'sskills, incomes, and conditions of work.

The Empowerment Equation

Explanatory Notes

The Katipunan ng Bagong Pilipina (KaBaPa)is a mass-based, activist women'snon-government organisation which endea-vours to promote male and female equalitybefore the law in all fields where such doesnot exist; equality of economic rights,non-discrimination in employment opportu-nities and security of employment after mar-riage and equality of rights and responsibili-ties in the family and home. The KaBaPa waslaunched on March 8, 1975, by some 2,000women, mostly from rural areas. Today, itclaims membership of 28,000 women fromall over the country. The organisation hasbeen most active in educating women throughits indigenous training system. It has beeninvolved in organising children and youth,the urban poor and market vendors to whomit has extended solidarity during strikes andstruggles against eviction.

The KaBaPa has many members who arehomeworkers and they are spread out in theprovinces. Some of them have been involved inparticipatory action research on homeworkerssince the early 1980s.

Also, it has had substantial involvementin human resource and community develop-ment involving rural women and many of itsprojects are funded with aid from donors.Using its indigenous training system calledgabay it has trained more than 20,000 membersand non-members as well as 500 trainers. T h egabays are guidelines in simple question andanswer format to teach women how to org a n i-se, how to be a good homemaker and commu-nity leader, how to manage projects and thel i k e .

With minimum prodding, the KaBaPawas persuaded to focus on the homeworkers'cause instead of community-based enter-prises as such. The path for the homeworkers'project was laid.

35

Physical Powerfulness(capital,

facilities)

Personal Capacity x(Self-esteem,technical skillsmanagement skills)

The Katipunan ng Bagong Pilipina sawitself as an initiator in organising homebasedworkers, and envisages the homeworkers'organisation developing into an independentbody. Realising that organising homeworkersis a gargantuan task, KaBaPa advocates theinvolvement of and seeks support fromnon-governmental and governmental organi-sations. This could be done through a sustai-ned networking process, the main strategyadopted by the KaBaPa in campaigning forthe homeworkers' welfare.

References

Ang Bagong Pilipina (English Edition), March1990 -March 1991, 4 pp.

"Asian homeworkers meet in RP May 10", NewsToday Manila, Philippines, May 1, 1991, p. 3.

Bahay Ugnayan Pahayagan ng PATAMABA, INK,Mayo 1991.

Draft of the Memorandum of A g r e e m e n tEstablishing the National Steering Committee.

"DOLE pushes legislation for homeworkers,Businessworld Manila, Philippines, April 10, 1991,p . 11 .

Dole Workshop, Malaya Manila, Philippines, 1October 1989, p. 2.

"Drilon appeals for welfare of homeworkers", T h eManila Chronicle Manila, Philippines, 7 October1989, p. 3.

"Drilon wants protection for 7M home workers",Business World Manila, Philippines, October 9,1989, p. 11 .

"Drilon vows to protect homeworkers", ManilaBulletin Manila, Philippines, 7 October 1989, pp. 1& 20.

"8M home-based workers grossly underpaid:DOLE", Malaya Manila, Philippines, May 13,1991, p. 2.

"Gov't, NGOs help homeworkers", News To d a yManila, Philippines, 6 October 1989, p. 3.

"Homeworkers: an exploited lot", Malaya Manila,Philippines, May 10, 1991, p. 18.

"Help for Homeworkers sought", The NewChronicle Manila, Philippines, April 10, 1991, p. 4.

"Homeworkers' Aid Sought", Manila BulletinManila, Philippines, May 13, 1991, p. 16.

"Homeworkers Meet on", Manila Bulletin Manila,Philippines, May 7, 1991, p. 5.

"Homeworkers Organise to Get Better Income",Daily Globe Manila, Philippines, January 16, 1990,p. 14.

"Homeworkers as exploited class", BusinessworldManila, Philippines, May 1, 1991, p. 8 and inPhilippine Daily Inquirer May 17, 1991.

"Homeworkers Widely Ignored Despite GDPContribution", Philippine Labor March 1991, p. 7.

"It's worth a try", Philippine Daily Inquirer Manila,Philippines, 7 October 1989, p. 8.

"ILO cites Gov't, NGO efforts to promote home-working", Businessworld April 29, 1991, p. 12.

"Laws to protect home-based workers sought",Manila Bulletin Manila, Philippines, May 19, 91, p.1 2 .

"Look after homeworkers' welfare,Drilon asks solons", Daily Globe Manila,Philippines, 7 October 1989, p. 6.

Minutes of the Meetings, NationalSteering Committee for Homebased Workers'Program, July 30, 1991, 5 pp.

"Homeworkers: Vulnerable to Abuses,Insecurities", and "Home is Where the Work

36

Is Philippine Labor Manila, Philippines:October, 1990, volume XVI, pp. 2, 8-9.

Report of the Final Evaluation Mission on theI L O / D A N I D A Subregional Project(DAN/RAS/86/MO4), March-April 1991, 56pp. plus annexures.

Resolution for the Creation of the NationalSteering Committee.

"The most exploited women workers",People s Journal Manila, Philippines, 7October 1989.

Ulat Ukol sa Pagkilos Para sa MB,Hulyo-Agosto 12, 1991, typewritten, 2 pp.

Ulat ng Pambansang Ta g a p a g-ugnay ngPATAMABA, Mayo 1 - Hunyo 28, 1991,typewritten report, 4 pp.

Unang Kongreso ng PATAMABA, Ink.,Mayo 1, 1991, 16 pp.

Notes

1. Subcontractors are those who get job orders fromproducers or exporters and in turn, they assign thejob to others such as the homebased women wor -kers.

2. The proceedings are published in the monograph,"Homeworkers of Southeast j4sia: The Struggle forSocial Protection in the Philippines, " 1992:Bangkok, Thailand.

3. Homeworking activities in the various provinces areas follows: Isabela, sewing & embroidery; Laguna,sewing paper mache, weaving, making of woodentoys; Bulacan, sewing, embro i d e ry, stitching ofsequins & decor onto garments; Nueva Ecija,sewing & broomstick making; Batangas, sewing;Manila, sewing & handicrafts; Pampanga, weavingof tikiw (a local fiber); Quezon, weaving of fans andbaskets; Camarines Sur, sewing, hat, bag weaving,crocheting; Tarlac, clay jar making; Pangasinan,bamboo craft; Mandawe City, rattan craft; Bataan,weaving of baetong (another local fiber).

4. "Homeworkers of Southeast Asia: The Struggle forSocial Protection in the Philippines", 1992.

37

Understanding Empowerment

The term empowerment has been bandiedabout so much in recent years that there is nowa genuine danger of it being coopted as a 'deve-lopment buzzword' that will meet the same fateas terms such as 'decentralisation', 'people's par-ticipation' and the like. Despite this, it is impor-tant to understand what the term connotes.After attempting a review of literature, Shetty(1992) comes to the conclusion that empower-ment is easy to 'intuit' but complex to define.But while it may be difficult to define it, one isable to understand its meaning when one seesthe manifestation of what it implies. Thus anempowered individual would be one who expe-riences a sense of self-confidence ands e l f-worth; a person who critically analyzeshis/her social and political environment; a per-son who is able to exercise control over deci-sions that affect his/her life.

These are, however, not the onlydimensions or facets that define empower-ment. But while recognizing that empower-ment is multi-faceted in nature, an attempt ismade in this paper to examine how a literacycampaign has brought about women's empo-werment. This is done by analyzing thea n t i-arrack (country liquor) agitation ofNellore district of Andhra Pradesh, which hasshown how literacy played a significant rolein raising the consciousness of village womenso that they have now spearheaded an agita-tion that is fast engulfing the state of AndhraPradesh.

In the last section of this paper anattempt is made to define someaspects/dimensions of empowerment as glea-ned from the Nellore experience.

Literacy and the Anti-Arrack Agitation inNellore District

The origin of the agitation can be traced

back to the implementation of the Total LiteracyCampaign (TLC) in the district two years ago.The campaign was officially launched inNellore from January 1991 after an intensivepreparation that lasted for four months. As inmost TLC's, in Nellore the district collector wasthe official organizer and the prime mover of thecampaign. Prior to launching the campaign,special efforts were made to elicit active supportfor the campaign by involving various politicalparties, bureaucrats of different developmentdepartments and organizations/ agencies/indivi-duals representing a crosssection of people.Nellore district, with a literacy rate of 49%(national average 52.1 % and state average 45.1%), had 450,000 non-literates in the 9-35 ageg r o u p .

At the district level, the Collector, witha team of dedicated workers, constitutedcommittees such as an academic committeeto provide resource support to the campaign,and a cultural committee to use varied cultu-ral forms such as song, drama, street plays, toconvey to the non-literates the importanceand the need for literacy.

In order to generate sufficient enthu-siasm for literacy, wall writing, pamphletee-ring and even padyatras or processions werecarried out. As the main purpose of the cam-paign was to enthuse not just the non-l i t e-rates but also literates who were expected tobecome volunteers, kalajathas or culturaltroupes were formed. A l a rge number ofthese artists who came from the rural areastoured extensively in the district givingabout 7,000 performances in an idiom andlanguage that was understood by the villagefolk. The themes of the plays and songsinvolved problems encountered in lifebecause of illiteracy - exploitation of labour,low wages, untouchability, powerlessness,inability to deal with social evils such asd o w r y, alcoholism, wife beating etc. T h eideological content of the songs and

WOMEN'S LITERACY AND EMPOWERMENT: THE NELLORE EXPERIENCE

Anita Dighe

plays underscored the importance of a peo-ple's movement for fighting illiteracy and ofthe relevance of literacy in understanding thenature of exploitation. Usually after theconclusion of a kalajatha a call was giveninviting volunteers to take up literacy work.Those who volunteered were asked to take anoath in the presence of the audience to workfor the cause of literacy. The method becameso popular that about 55,000 volunteers regis-tered their names when the need was only for40,000 (Shatrugna, 1992).

After creating a favourable climate for thecampaign, a three-tiered training programmeensured that training of the functionaries atvarious levels was carried out. The literacyclasses were started thereafter and an attemptwas made by the volunteers to complete each ofthe three levels of literacy primers that were pre-pared for the campaign. That women' s partici-pation was high is borne out by the fact that ofthe 150,000 who completed the first phase ofthe campaign successffilly,100,000 werewomen. Most of them belonged to theScheduled Castes and backward classes(Shatrugna, 1992).

As the main purpose of the campaignwas not only gaining literacy skills but alsodevelopment and empowerment, the post-literacy phase consisted of formation of JanaChetana Kendras (Centres for People'sAwareness) where the problems facing thevillagers were discussed. The overall expe-rience was that these kendras numbering6000, were very popular with women takinga leading role in their functioning. As thewomen came together at the centres, they notonly discussed the general problems faced bythe village, but also shared their experiencesand problems with one another.

The origin of the anti-arrack agitationwas due to various factors. The role played bythe CPI(Communist Party of India)-( M L )groups in bringing opposition to the arrackbusiness on to the national agenda cannot beignored. In the earlier phase of the work ofthe CPI (ML) groups (mainly in the Teleganadistricts), the focus was on reduction in theretail price of arrack. S u b s e q u e n t l y, thesegroups took up the struggle to stop the arrackauctions and prevent the sale of arrack in thevillages. In this effort, they received

tremendous support from women who suff e r e ddaily at the hands of their inebriated husbands. Butthis effort of the CPI (ML) groups was 'top-down' -women's participation was elicited but they werenot involved in the planning and decision-m a k i n gprocesses. In other words, the initiative did not comefrom the women themselves.

What spurred the agitation was a smallincident that took place in Doobagunta villa-ge in Nellore district. In this village, thewomen of the village stopped the vending ofarrack after two men of the village had diedafter a bout of drinking. This incident hadbeen preceded by a lot of discussion amongthe villagers (especially women) about theevils of excessive drinking. These discussionsfocused on how in many families the mendrank all they earned and how women had towork and run the houshold on their earningsand get beaten daily in the bargain by theirdrunken husbands. The volunteers of JanaVigyan Vedika organized by the CPI (M)cadre had played an important role in genera-ting this consciousness (Balagopal, 1992).

In the post-literacy primer calledChaduvu Velugu (light of knowledge), theDoobagunta example was cited in the form ofa lesson titled Adavallu Ekamaithe (if womenunite). The text of the lesson was a story thatwas written from the perspective of women ofDoobagunta village - of the harassment theyhad suffered at the hands of their drunkenhusbands, of the manner in which they haddiscussed their problems in the literacy class,of their resolve to take collective action andof the success they had achieved by closingdown the arrack shop in the village. The nar-ration in the text was simple, direct and endedwith an exhortation to the reader that if they(the women of Doobagunta) could do it, "whycan't you too do it?" Think .........".

As the primer with this lesson wasintroduced in the post- literacy centres, it hadan electrifying impact on women. In severalvillages, women's committees were formedand citing the Doobagunta example, agitationagainst the sale of arrack began. First the hus-bands, sons and male relatives habituated toliquor were advised not to drink. As thewomen realized that as long as the arrack

40

shop in the village was open, it would be impos-sible to prevent men from drinking, they issued awarning to the arrack shop owners to close downthe shops. Due to the pressure from women'sgroups, arrack shops were closed either with theconsent of the owner, or by force. Women formedsquads in the villages and a vigil was kept roundthe clock to ensure that no arrack entered the villa-ge either through the arrack contractor or the exci-se department.

By August 1992, the anti-arrack agita-tion had spread through the villages ofNellore district. August is the month in whichexcise auctions are held and on August 11, thedate fixed by the collector of Nellore for auc-tion, there was a major demontration ofwomen at the collector's office, forcing theauction to be postponed. Subsequently, theauction would be announced but would getpostponed each time due to massive mobili-zation of women. Gradually, all the opposi-tion parties, voluntary org a n i z a t i o n s ,women's groups, civil liberties organizationsjoined the protest movement so that by theend of November 1992, the anti-arrack agita-tion had spread to a large number of districtsof Andhra Pradesh.

But the success of the anti-arrack agita-tion suffered a setback when in December,1992 the Chief Minister of Andra Pradeshbranded such work as 'anti-government' andannounced that strict action would be takenagainst those government functionaries whosupported the movement and worked activelyfor it.

Women, Literacy and Empowerment - AnAnalysis of the Nellore Experience

From the Nellore experience, one can beginto develop a broad conceptual framework ofwhat empowerment means.

I . Empowerment and Marginalized Groups

The term empowerment is focused onm a rginalized groups - the landless, thepowerless, the voiceless. In Nellore, it wasthe scheduled castes, and other backwardcaste women who took up the arrack issue

and who as a result, have spearheaded an agi-tation that has now elicited support frommiddle class women and men. T h ea n t i-arrack agitation has become such apowerful women's movement and has takensuch deep roots in the Andhra countrysidethat the yearly arrack sales have now beenpostponed indefinitely in Nellore district andin some other parts of Andhra Pradesh.

2. The Pro c e s s-oriented Nature ofEmpowerment

It is clear from the Nellore experience thatempowerment is not an end-of-project pro-duct or a state that can be attained within defi-ned time-frames. Instead, empowerment is adynamic and on-going process which canonly be located on a continuum (Shetty,1992). The total literacy campaign in Nellorehad given an opportunity to women to acqui-re literacy skills, and as a result, to begin tofeel sufficiently self-confident to function asautonomous individuals. But if acquisition ofliteracy became the essential step in empowe-ring then at the individual level, the issue ofarrack provided the necessary spark that uni-ted them at the collective level. If empower-ment is viewed as a continuum, empower-ment at the group level is essential but thiscannot be brought about without empower-ment at the individual level.

3. The Holistic Nature of Empowerment

Empowerment cannot be constrained by asectoral approach. Nor can it be related to just a setof activities or inputs. Empowerment is ana l l-encompassing term in which a whole range ofeconomic, social and political activities, includinggroup organisation, agriculture and income gene-ration projects, education, integrated health careand so on, would work synergistically towards thecommon goal of empowering the poor (Bhasin,1985). In Nellore, the arrack issue was the onlyissue on which the women's movement was built.This was a conscious decision taken by the womenthemselves. But as arrack shops were closedand the men saved money for running thehousehold, the impact of a slightly better

41

diet on their health was immediately discer-nible. The debilitating effect of arrack on thehealth of the menfolk, and the consequenteffect on their productivity, became an issueof great interest to both men and women.

4. Empowerment Deals with Strategicrather than Practical Gender Interests

It is important to differentiate between whatMolyneux (1981) terms 'the practical genderinterests' and 'the strategic gender interests'.She notes that the former are short term andlinked to immediate needs arising fromwomen' s current responsibilities vis-a-vis thelivelihood of their families and children,while the latter address bigger issues such assexual division of labour within the home, theremoval of institutionalised forms of genderdiscrimination, the establishment of politicalequality, freedom of choice over child-bea-ring, and the adoption of adequate measuresagainst male violence and control overwomen.

It appears from the Nellore experiencethat to begin with, the agitation addressed the'practical gender interests' in so far as itsgenesis was due to the rural women's concernabout their husbands' callous indifference totheir responsibilities towards the family andto the upbringing of their children. But as theagitation picked up momentum, it appearedthat it had the potential to address the 'strate-gic gender interests', although the womenfrom Nellore have strategically decided tofocus exclusively on the arrack issue for thepresent. This was made apparent from the dis-cussions with village women in some villagesduring which it was categorically stated thatthey would first win the battle against arrackbefore taking up any other issue. But interes-tingly, power relationships between men andwomen within the family and outside areslowly beginning to change. Women haveformed anti-arrack vigilance squads in thevillage to ensure that illicit arrack is notsmuggled into the village. There have beeninstances when the women have success-fully challenged the bureaucracy, the poli-ce, and the politicians. But to what extentthe anti-arrack agitation would be able to

sustain itself, consolidate its gains and moveon the other issues of concern to women isnow uncertain due to the present policy of thestate government, which has cracked downseverely on those functionaries who supportthe agitation.

5. E m p o w e r m e n t h a s C o g n i t i v eP s y c h o l o g i c a l a n d E c o n o m i cC o m p o n e n t s

According to Stromquist (1988), empowermentis a socio-political concept that goes beyond'participation', and 'consciousness-raising'. Shecalls for a fuller definition of empowerment thatconsiders cognitive, psychological and econo-mic components. The cognitive componentrefers to women's understanding of their condi-tions of subordination and the reasons that crea-te such conditions. The psychological compo-nent includes the development of a feeling thatwomen can improve their condition and thebelief that they can succeed in their efforts. InNellore, as women have collectively picketedthe arrack shops, marched unitedly to the districtcollector's office and organized a dharna to ensu-re that auctions are not allowed to take place,they have become strengthened in their convic-tion that it is only such united action that canbring about any change. "Now that we havecome out of our homes, we will fight to the veryend" is the refrain that has been echoed in villa-ge after village.

But the third component, namely the eco-nomic, has not been addressed in Nellore so far.This component of empowerment signifies thatwomen are able to engage in a productive activi-ty that will allow them some degree of financialindependence, however small and burdensomein the beginning. Such income-generating activi-ties, however, are difficult to implement becausethey are risky, time-consuming and hard to sus-t a i n .

6. Democratising Aspect of Empowerment

A key feature of empowerment is thatit elicits the widest possible communityparticipation and is, in that sense, democra-tizing (Shetty, 1992). This aspect of theNellore experience is important for the

42

agitation has mobilized support not only fromcertain sections of village women but alsofrom certain sections of village men.Alongside various women's groups, politicalparties, unions of lawyers, doctors, etc., havelent support to the agitation. An interestingdevelopment has been that the village womentook a conscious decision not to identify lea-ders for their agitation. It is said that theirargument was that once leaders were identi-fied, they would be 'bought' over by the poli-ticians.

7. Understanding the Nature of Literacythat Empowers

Conceptually it is important to distinguishbetween literacy that empowers and literacywhich domesticates. Tr a d i t i o n a l l y, literacyprogrammes have focused on acquisition oftechnical skills of reading and writing. Whilethe importance of acquisition of literacy skillsshould not be discounted, the fact remainsthat in the case of women, such a literacyoftentimes merely reinforces their domesticrole and does not bring about any change insocial relations either within the family oroutside. Literacy that empowers, on the otherhand, seeks to combine bothc o n s c i o u s n e s s-raising and participation sothat women not only understand the causes oftheir oppression but also take steps to amelio-rate their conditions. In Nellore, it seems thatin the basic literacy skills, the emphasis wason acquisition. It was, however, in thep o s t-literacy phase that 'awareness-r a i s i n g 'around issues of common concern, startedtaking place in a systematic manner.C o n s c i o u s n e s s-raising or the develop-ment of a critical view of the micro andmacro reality of individuals, is a majorcontribution of Paulo Freire. The eventsat the Doobagunta village of Nellore dis-trict were probably precipitated becauseof the discussions that had taken place atthe post-literacy centres on the evils ofexcessive drinking. More importantly, itwas the manner in which the D o o b a g u n t aincident was converted into a lesson inthe post-literacy primer that has pedago-gical relevance. The lesson in the form of astory was direct, simple and written from theperspective of the women of D o o b a g u n t a .

The other lessons in the primer dealt withissues of poverty, landlessness, minimumwages, problems with the ration shop, healthservices and such other day-to-day problemsof the poor. This primer evoked tremendousinterest among the neo-literates.

The role of literacy in the overall pro-cess of empowerment, however, needs to beunderstood. Is literacy a necesary pre-condi-tion for empowerment? That this is not neces-sarily so is borne out by the experience of theWomen's Development Programme (WDP)in Rajasthan and of Mahila Samakhya inthree other states of India. This experiencehas shown that even though non-l i t e r a t ewomen can become empowered, the demandfor literacy does get articulated by them aftersome time. Literacy is then perceived not asan end in itself but as a means to enablewomen to have better control over their lives.Literacy becomes empowering if it enableswomen to gain access to the storehouse ofinformation and knowledge that has beendenied to them. But literacy skills have to beconstantly honed so that as new vistas openup to women, the desire to continue beyondbasic literacy becomes a felt need. In this pro-cess, literacy can also become a vehicle forcreative self-expression so that stories, songsand poems are written by women themselves.

8. C o n t e x t-specific Nature ofEmpowerment

According to Shetty (1992), empowermentcan be defined only within the local social, cultural,economic, political, and historical context. Evenwith regard to the anti-arrack agitation, it is impor-tant to understand the contextual factors that preci-pitated the agitation. For ten years, the importance ofthe arrack has increased steadily in the state ofAndhra Pradesh. Arrack consists principally of rec-tified spirit which is obtained by distilling fermentedmolasses. Over the years, despite the change ingovernment, arrack has become an importantsource of excise revenue for the StateGovernment. This has increased steadilyfrom Rs. 39 crore in 1970-71 to Rs. 812crore in 1991-92. This increase has not beenan innocuous increase caused by changing

43

life styles and habits but the consequence of a deli-berate policy pursued by the government(Balagopal, 1992). Unwilling to collect the taxes itimposes on the urban rich and unwilling to touch therural rich, the government has increasingly turned toliquor sales as a major source of revenue. This bra-zenness on the part of the government has resultedin the setting up of more and more arrack shops inthe villages and in the literal bringing of arrack to thedoorsteps of the villagers with, at the same time,increases in the retail price from year to year.

The manufacture of arrack is themonopoly of the government distilleriesbut its sole selling rights are auctionedareawise to contractors. That arrack is anextremely lucrative enterprise is evidentfrom the fact that over the years arrackcontractors have amassed great wealthand have started wielding politicali n f l u e n c e .

It is against this background thatthe anti-arrack agitation has to beunderstood. For at one level there is thepolitical role of arrack and the diff i c u l t yof fighting it, a difficulty that was notimmediately apparent to the thousandsof rural women who took up what theyperceived to be a just struggle. T h e i ranguish and sense of outrage was evi-dent when they joined the agitation andposed the following questions: "We donot have drinking water, no work, noschools, for our children and our wagesare low. Nothing is available here exceptarrack. It is the only thing that comes tothe village regularly, uninterruptedly.Why is the government so interested insupplying only arrack so religiously?Why does it not stop the supply? We willnow fight to stop arrack from enteringour village".

9. Sustainability is an Important Aspect ofEmpowerment

The direction of empowerment is thatof self-reliance and withdrawal of externalagents wherever the initial impetus has come

from outside. Grassroots organisations, anintegral part of most empowerment strategies,are thus seen as critical elements in ensuringsustainability. But the total literacy campai-gns are fended by the Government. Thatbeing so, the questions to be asked are: "Whatis the extent of empowerment that would beacceptable? What is the 'space' that would beprovided by a government-funded program-me?" That the 'space' provided was not verymuch has now become evident from the factthat the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh hasexpressed his anger at the manner in whichcertain district collectors, while implemen-ting the literacy programme, had raised'anti-government' sentiment among the lear-ners through the literacy primers. While orde-ring that such provocative lessons be expun-ged from the, literacy primers, the ChiefMinister has also ordered that governmentfunctionaries should dissociate themselvesfrom the agitation. That the state might evenresort to repressive measures is becoming adistinct possibility because of the politicalnature of the agitation.

On the other hand, the women's move-ment is gradually becoming more militantand has now become politicized because ofthe support it has received from all the oppo-sition political parties. Given this conflictingscenario, the future direction of theanti-arrack agitation remains uncertain. Butdespite this uncertainty, there is a hope that'the women cadres and leaders emerging fromthis movement will pose serious questions infuture.. The question that the grassrootswomen pose to husbands, activists and parties- to the entire civil society - will be radicallydifferent from the ones that the urban middleclass women have posed so far" (Ilaiah,1992).

44

References

Balagopal, K. (1992) "Slaying of a spirituousDemon". Economic & Political Weekly Vol.XXVII No. 46, Nov. 14, pp. 2457-2461.

Bhasin, K. (ed) (1985) To w a r d sEmpowerment. New Delhi: FAO.

Ilaih, K. "Anti Liquor Movement in AndhraPradesh". Economic & Political Weekly Vol.XXVII No. 45 Nov.7, pp. 2406-2408.

Molyneux, M. (1 9 8 1) "Women ' sEmancipation under Socialism: a model forthe Third World". IDS Discussion PaperDP157, Sussex: Institute of DevelopmentStudies.

Shatrugna, M. (1992) "Literacy and Arrack inAndhra". Economic & Political Weekly Vol.XXVII, No.48, Nov. 28, pp. 2583-2584.

Shetty, S. (1992) Development Projects inAssessing Empowering. New Dehli: Societyfor Participatory Research in A s i a ,Occasional Paper Series, No. 3.

Stromquist, N. (1988) "Women's Educationin Development: from Welfare toEmpowerment". Convergence Vol. XXI, No.4.

45

This paper presents two Colombian adulteducation programmes with women, develo-ped in the context of the Organization ofAmerican States (OAS) multinational projecton Education and Work (OAS/PMET pro-ject). The analysis of these programmespoints out the convergence of the principlesand practices of popular education, whichinspires the programmes, and the process ofwomen's empowerment. In this direction, itsuggests that indicators of empowermentcould be drawn up from the main postulatesof popular education.

The OAS Multinational Project ofEducation and Work

In 1989 the OAS decided to set up aMultinational Project on Education andWork, for the period 1990-1996, with the par-ticipation of all Latin American Countries.This project was based on the followingconsiderations:

• In spite of the annual economic growthof 6% experienced by Latin Americancountries, there are deep structuralimbalances which generate conditionsof poverty, marginality and unemploy-ment.

• Incomes in Latin America fell downbetween 22% and 23% in the period1980-1988.

• The high rates of unemployment in theregion, were a challenge to the develop-ment strategies of Latin A m e r i c a ncountries.

Given these conditions the OAS/PMETproject attempts:

1. To conceptualise the relationship bet-ween education and work more broadly,in order to set forth work as somethingmore than employment, as a fundamen-tal activity of human beings with socialand cultural determinants. That is, rela-ting quality of education with theneeds, resources and aspirations of thepopulation.

2. To link the design of the project notonly to training for employment, butalso to the development of an entrepre-neurial culture which gives rise tocooperatives and microenterprises.

3. To transform all curricula, in order toorganize educational contents to facili-tate the overcoming of the daily pro-blems of life, in which work is a funda-mental space of cultural and socialdevelopment.

4. To promote the full realization of thehuman potential, facilitating individualand community participation in thedesign, development and evaluation ofthe educational programmes.

5. To give priority to peasants, ethnicminorities, women and unemployedyoungsters.

The OAS/PMET Project in Colombia

Colombia decided to develop theOAS/PMET project at the level of AdultEducation in view of its new focus on thistype of education.

Since 1988 the government hasattempted to orient adult education pro-grammes according to the principles and

THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES MULTINATIONAL PROJECTON EDUCATION AND WORK: AN EXPERIENCE OF POPULAR EDUCATION

FOR WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT IN COLOMBIA

Miryan Zuniga E.

practices of popular education. That is, to desi-gn programmes with the people, following theirneeds and interests; to design these programmesto promote organization of the popular sectorsof society, in order to empower them to controltheir own development; to develop a dialogicalp e d a g o g y, which recognizes the traditionalknowledge and culture of the people; to promo-te direct democratic processes, in order to elimi-nate inequalities and to establish harmoniousrelationships with nature and among peoples; toconsider literacy and adult education as invol-ving more than the technical skills of readingand writing as they also concern learning tomanage one's day to day life.

Since 1990, the Colombian governmenthas set up 44 community-managed Centers ofPopular Adult Education (CAEPA) whereorganized communities develop programmesand projects to meet their learning needs.

The OAS/PMET project was establi-shed in the context of three of these centers,located in 3 different cities: Cali, Zarzal andVillavicencio.

These programmes were designed throughworkshops with the students, the CAEPACoordinating Committee, non-governmental org a-nizations (NGOs), representatives of governmentalinstitutions and participants from the UniversidadDel Valle. The result was a participatory curriculumdesign of the PMETprogramme. The Communityof the Cali Center decided to set up the programmefor young and adult women who wanted to be trai-ned to establish productive enterprises. This pro-gramme is carried out by CER-MUJER, a women'sNGO. The Zarzal and Villavicencio programmesgathered men and women. However, in Zarzal agroup of women, community mothers, were selec-ted to contribute to a master's degree projectconducted by a graduate student of the Va l l e yU n i v e r s i t i e s . '

All three programmes have in commonthree elements:

1. An integral curriculum structure,which includes the following components:

technical (to develop knowledge andskills for production), entrepreneurial

(to develop knowledge and skills formarketing), cultural (to promote cultu-ral identity and assertiveness), commu-nal (to insert the programme in a pro-cess of local development), and a com-ponent aiming to promote gender awa-reness.

2. A pedagogical approach which startssetting up the practical experience of aproduction group and continues withthe systematization of knowledge.Thus, it goes from practice to theory.

3. A final purpose: to generate productiongroups which take into account culturaland community dynamics.

The Cali programme

This includes a 5th curriculum component,dedicated to generating gender awareness amongwomen participants. This component includesworkshops about identity; self-esteem; women andfamily; women and work; women, health ands e l f-care; relationships between men and women;sexuality and values, etc.

It also includes the celebration of events, such asMother's Day, Women's Day and the Non-Vi o l e n c eagainst Women Day. This programme assumes thatwomen have three roles to play in society; the reproduc-tive role, which relegates women to the private, domesticarena, where they are mothers and wives; the productiverole, which places women in economic production; andthe community management role, which is related withwomen's participation in local affairs. Therefore, the pro-gramme attempts to empower these women, to accom-plish all three roles in order to break up the structure whichsustains women's subordination, and to increase women'ss e l f-confidence and internal force. So far, the Cali pro-gramme has made possible the formation of four pro-duction groups: hand-made cards, fruit pulp, clothing, andmarketing of different products.

The Zarzal programme

This attempts to further advance the SanLorenzo Project of FUNDALCO, a

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Colombian NGO, with women (Zuniga1992).

It operationalizes the concept of sustainedhealth through a process of group production offood, cooking practices and learning about nutritionas a source of health, the development of genderidentity and self-esteem, and cultural communitytraits of their locality.

The pedagogical model of this programme isbased on a dialogue of knowledge: the traditionalknowledge of the women participants (that is, theirexperience and world view, which provides themwith ways of interpreting their lives), and the syste-matic knowledge of the coordinators of the pro-gramme (a nurse, a teacher, and an expert in agri-c u l t u r e ) .

The dialogue flows around the kitchen,the physical setting where these women spendmost of their time, and therefore the spacewhere they feel most comfortable. T h e s ewomen bring to the kitchen, where the work-shops are carried on, the products they grow(vegetables and small animals such as rabbitsand hens). They cook a meal and learn aboutits nutritional value, recognizing the needs ofthe human body. Then they talk about culturalpractices, about the feeding of men, womenand children, as well as about the traditionalrole and potentialities of women in the family,the economy and the community.

It is expected as a result of this pro-gramme, that these women's children will bebetter nourished and that these women willincrease their self-esteem, as compared withthe control group.

P o p u l a r Education and Wo m e n ' sEmpowerment

According to Caroline Moser (1992) there arefour approaches to the planning of gender inthe Third World:

1. The well-being approach which deve-lops programmes to provide goods towomen of low incomes, because theyare in charge of their families, thus hel-ping women to help their families.

This type-of programme only recognizesand reinforces the reproductive role ofw o m e n .

2. The equity approach which promotesthe reduction of discrimination againstwomen, through policies and pro-grammes which recognize the producti-ve role of women in society.

3. The anti-poverty approach, whichassumes that women's poverty is causedby their lack of land, capital, trainingand employment. Thus, it promotesprogrammes which enable women togenerate income to overcome poverty .

4. The empowerment approach, whichrecognizes that the concept of gender isa sociocultural construct and points outthe social relation between men andwomen, in which women have beensystematically subordinated.

Among the four approaches, it is the empo-werment approach which recognizes the triple roleof women in the family, economic production andthe community, and recommends challenging thesocial structure and oppressive situation womenhave to suff e r. Women have to increase their powernot in terms of domination over others, but in termsof gains over their self-esteem and internal force.This means women have the right to decide abouttheir own life and to influence social change,through their ability to gain control over crucialnatural and cultural resources.

This approach is not interested in the "inte-gration" of women in society, but in the design of anew society, where relationships between men andwomen are more democratic. To achieve this, it isnecessary to promote organizations to accomplishlegal changes, political mobilization and socialc o n s c i o u s n e s s .

This last approach coincides with themain postulates of popular education.According to Sime (1991), between 1970 and1990 a paradigm of popular education wasdrawn up with the following perspectives:

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Political: it searches for a democraticsociety through the full participation ofall people in social life regardless oftheir race, social status and gender. Italso looks forward for people to achie-ve peace, tolerance and solidarity. Itpromotes the empowerment of minoritygroups, popular and marginal sectors ofs o c i e t y, and women to be able toinfluence social and political decisions.

Cultural: it questions to what extent topreserve the traditional, how to relatethe traditional and the modern, how tomanage the racism and patriarchalismof popular groups, and how to value theplural ethnicity of many countries.

Pedagogical: it questions the authorita-rian relations of teachers over students.It recognizes the traditional knowledgeof people, promotes assertivenessamong participants and encouragesmultiple ways of knowing. It does notprioritize the group above the indivi-dual, or the rational over the affective.

Ethical: it seeks congruence betweenmeans and ends. It stands for humanrights, the claims of women, andagainst exploitation of children, injusti-ce and corruption.

Thus, the paradigm of popular edu-cation could become an agency to pro-mote women's empowerment. In fact, thepolitical, cultural, pedagogical and ethi-cal perspectives of popular education,show a way to draw a system of indica-tors to evaluate the extent to which aprogramme, like the OAS of Cali andZarzal, is helping women to becomee m p o w e r e d .

These indicators could be identifiedaccording to the four perspectives of popu-lar education, but they must include whatStromquist (1993) calls the cognitive, psy-chological, political and economic compo-nents of empowerment. These componentsare related to the understanding ofwomen's condition of subordination(cognitive); the development of feelingsthat women can act upon to improve their

conditions (psychological); the ability to org a n i z eand mobilize for social changes (political); and theskills to obtain some degree of financial autonomy( e c o n o m i c ) .

The following set of indicators could havethe potential to evaluate the process of empower-ment in all of its components.

1. Political perspective

Indicator: The establishment of women's productiongroups and associations

Cognitive component: the understanding oftraditional concepts about the location ofwomen in the private sphere of their house-h o l d s .

Psychological component: the develop-ment of feelings that women could haveachievements in the public sphere of society.

Economic component : the development ofmanagerial skills to achieve financial autono-m y.

Political component: the ability to promoteo rganisations to reshape relations in thepublic sphere of society.

2. Cultural perspective

Indicator: The use of legal offices for women andfamily aff a i r s

Cognitive component: Knowledge aboutwomen's rights.

Psychological component: Confidence inwomen's ability to carry on legal processes toplead for their rights, even against culturalt r a d i t i o n s .

Economic component: Ability to findresources to carry on law suits to improvetheir social and economic conditions.

Political component: Ability toimprove the establishment of social

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institutions which support women'swork towards social change in the fieldof gender relations.

3. Ethical perspective

Indicator: Promotion of legislation aboutabortion. violence against women, inheritan-ce, and competency to control business

Cognitive component: K n o w l e d g eabout the moral values of society.

Psychological component: C o n f i d e n c ein women's ability to make decisions aboutmoral and business issues.

Economic component: Ability to exer-cise advocacy for issues which assurewomen's autonomy.

Political component: Ability to parti-cipate in actions to promote changes inthe traditional gender relations.

4. Pedagogical perspective

Indicator: Participation in the design. deve-lopment and evaluation of educational pro-grammes for women

Cognitive component: Understandingthe traditional conditions of women andtheir development possibilities.

Psychological component: Belief inwomen' s ability to share the responsi-bility for implementing a programme.

Economic component: Ability todevelop skills to achieve economicautonomy through the educational pro-gramme.

Political component: Ability to deve-lop skills to find terms of agreementabout how the programme could be setup.

According to these indicators, the OASmultinational projecy on Education and Workheld in Cali and Zarzal (Colombia) has empo-wered some women to act upon their localpolitical, cultural, ethical and pedagogicalforces in order to change their life.

In fact, this project has enabled thewomen to gain insights into their traditionalsubordinate condition as well as into theirinner strength to change such a situation.Both groups of women have been able toorganize small businesses to generate inco-me, to gain self-confidence to make econo-mic decisions, to gain skills to negotiateabout the sharing of domestic work, to deve-lop managerial skills to participate in com-munity programmes, and to support theirideas in public meetings.

This experience points out the relation-ship between popular education programmesand empowerment. But it also suggests ahypothesis about the relationship betweenwomen's access to paid work and the processof empowerment. There is, however, a needto distinguish the kinds of work that havemore potential for empowerment. This is thechallenge the OAS project faces.

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References

Moser, Caroline O.N. (1992) "Planificacionde género en el Tercer Mundo: enfrentandolas necesidades practicas y estrategias degenero". Bogota. Mimeo.

Sime, Luis (1991) "Notas para un balance deldiscurso de la Educacion Popular". InPalomino, Nancy (ed.) Los discursos y lavida. Lima: Tarea.

Stromquist, Nelly P. (1993) "The practicaland the theoretical bases for empowerment."Paper presented at the International Seminaron Women's Education and Empowerment.Hamburg: UIE.

Zuniga, M. "A post-literacy project with thewomen of the Indian community of SanLorenzo (Colombia)". In Malmquist, Eve(ed.) (1992) Women and LiteracyDevelopment in the Third World. Stockholm:UNESCO and SIDA.

Note

1. Ms Olga Osorio a member of the PMET project.(cf. Osorio Olga. A. (1992) Master s Project. Cali.Universidad del Valle.)

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Introduction

Over the past decade, education for women'sempowerment has been intensively discus-sed. The reason lies in the disappointmentover the "run-o f-t h e-mill" literacy pro-grammes. They are described as unsatisfacto-ry and limited to the three R's, a handful ofincome-raising skills and certain "life quali-ty" components.

These programmes center on areas pre-determined by women's reproductive func-tion to the exclusion of their equally impor-tant role as economic producers. The pro-grammes often leave women disillusioned asthey quickly realize that the programmes donot help improve their lives.

Despite such programmes, learnerscontinue to face economic hardship, doubleresponsibility and overall social inequality.

Training for better productivity doesnot suffice because women needdecision-making capacity and ability to orga-nize and take part in community and nationalactivities.

Advocates of education for empower-ment have argued that education needs to gowell beyond mere "enabling". It has to viewwomen as society's active members who neededucation to participate, effectively and mea-ningfully, in any activity and as equal part-ners of men.

Definitions of empowerment vary butPaz is most succinct - it is "the ability todirect and control one's own life" (Paz, 1990).The report of the 1991 Seminar on the inte-gration of women in development elaboratesthat it is a "process in which women gaincontrol over their own lives of knowing and clai-ming their rights at all levels of society at theinternational, local and household levels.S e l f-empowerment means that women gain auto-n o m y, are able to set their own agenda and arefully involved in economic, political and social

d e c i s i o n-making processes" (Depthnews,1992).

Empowerment is better defined as aconcept than in practical terms, whichleaves many questions unanswered. This isparticularly true with education for empo-werment. How does one educate to empo-wer? How does learning for empowermentd i ffer from other programmes for women?How should learning be structured? Howcan its impact be measured?

This paper discusses the trainingprogramme which is part of the UNDPfunded project "Expansion of Skills-b a s e dLiteracy Programme of Women", betterknown as Educate to Empower from thetitle of the manual it produced. The projectrepresents an effort to answer some of theabove questions. The paper also raisessome other questions related to educationfor women's empowerment.

The Training Pro g r a m m e

The experience of the training programmeto be discussed arose from a series ofregional training workshops. Four of theworkshops produced curricula and lear-ning materials. The others designed rea-ding materials for women with limitedreading skills.

In the first group, three workshopswere run by UNESCO and funded by theU N D P as part of its project RAS/88/013,Expansion of Skills-based LiteracyProgrammes for Women. The fourth wasfinanced by ESCAP and UNICEF withtechnical support from UNESCO-P R O A P.The second group is part of UNESCO'sregular programme.

Five workshops were held between July1990 and July 1992, with 20-25 participantsin each. Fourteen countries of Asia and the

EDUCATE TO EMPOWER: AN ASIAN EXPERIENCE

Namtip Aksornkool

Pacific were represented: Bangladesh,Bhutan, China, Laos, India, Japan, Myanmar,Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea,Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and VietNam.

All countries share a common characteristic.Their women are unable to give their best to thenational development. The resulting curricula andmaterials help prepare women for self-d e v e l o p m e n tas active members of their family, community andnation. They seek overall personal development andaccount for the notorious double responsibility thatwomen shoulder as economic producers and asmothers and wives.

The above approach concentrates on impar-ting knowledge, skills and attitudes that helpwomen operate as efficient and equal partners ofmen. It is important to stress collaboration betweenthe sexes and to make sure that empowerment doesnot mean "pitting women against men".

Outcome of the regional workshops

1. The profile of the empowered woman.2. A manual to train in preparing pro-grammes for empowerment.

3. 70 curricular units complete with tea-ching guides, learner workbooks, pos-ters, flipcharts, booklet etc.

4. 29 picture books for women with limi-ted reading skills.

5. The training experience gained throu-ghout the workshops is their invisible"benefit". The work will reach itshighest point when ex-participants pro-ceed to invest their experience in theirown workshops at the national/subna-tional levels and build on whatever theylearned.

Major Components of Trainingl. Gender Issues

Participants spell out and explain theirlong-held values concerning the respectiveroles of women and men. It is a summary ofthe traditional view: areas of work assigned tomen and women; distribution of access to

resources and their control; access to and res-pective ways of earning and spending.

Gender issues are handled with care sincethey involve questioning one's own attitudes, valuesand beliefs, frequently the very essence of one'sexistence. Activities are planned to ensure that allopinions are respected. In this way, participantsbecome open to reconsidering their values.

The nature of the activities also plays animportant role in creating a non-threatening climate.Group work in which peer support is clearly presentis reassuring. We l l-timed questions from peers alsohelp participants entertain new views without fee-ling pressured into accepting them.

Training materials are more varied, interes-ting and appealing than usual as they are to inducenew attitudes. A u d i o-visuals are most effective forthe purpose because they present cases in whichparticipants recognize their shortcomings withoutbeing directly challenged.

The video, The Impossible Dreamproduced by the United Nations'Information Office, and UNFPA's video,Women - Key to the Future are twoexamples of effective training tools.Participants also enjoy video films produ-ced by various countries in the region.These videos are used with discussion gui-delines. Sometimes, editing is necessary tobring the contents of the video to the point.

Other exercises, such as drawing andthe Agree/Disagree game, lead groups toreflect on their beliefs, are fun, and reveal alot without threatening anyone. Peer pres-sure is another means to cause an indivi-dual to re-examine her ways, consider newoptions, and adopt or reject them.

Groups have come up with exercise modelsthat intensify the scrutiny of gender issues by assi-gning a framework of action. In one case they sug-gest assigning their future learners to write short dia-logues for well-known male and female cartooncharacters caught in expressive scenes of conflict,debate, or reconciliation.

Workshops have revealed that enlightenedmale participants exert enormous influence on thetraditional gender perceptions of other participants.

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In contrast to other skills, the ability to chan-ge gender attitudes takes more time to develop andmust be continuously reinforced. Gender issues aretherefore interwoven with other activities for a morecomprehensive and facile treatment of the newc o n c e p t s .

Before participants embark on preparingtheir own individual curricular units (or learningprogrammes), they develop their own "Profile of theEmpowered Woman". (For the latest version of theprofile, see below. )

2. Work Skills

Work was the major focus throughout the trainingprogramme as it imparts integrity and a sense ofb e l o n g i n g .

Experience in the region and elsewhereshows that educational programmes for womenoften fail because they do not include trainingwomen in lucrative skills (Dighe 1989). Sewing,e m b r o i d e r y, tailoring, and handicrafts alone cannotsustain women's interest for long because they arenot earning them much income (Lind and Foss1 9 9 0 ) .

The programme has shifted to emphasize skills thatwomen want and need to know. Most popular among theseare agricultural skills, as confirmed by the needs analysisconducted prior to the training.

Examples of topics selected by participants are: plan-ting apple trees (Bhutan), making century eggs for sale(China), integrated farming (Laos), rice planting (Viet Nam),selling dried fish (Myanmar), raising pigs (Viet Nam andPapua New Guinea), food catering (Papua New Guinea)and brick-making (Thailand).

Enhancing women's productive skillswithout lessening their other responsibilities hasoverburdened women. Several curricular materialsdwell on promoting sharing of household responsi-bility between husband and wife and other familym e m b e r s .

Although some work skills belong in the"feminine" category, the curricular units go wellbeyond the mere "enabling" functions.

The new subjects on the learninglist include planning, management andentrepreneurial habits. They are helpfulin any work area. Building up positive

s e l f-image and strengthening of women'sself-confidence also receives due attention.

In addition, the workshops emphasizedthat, at present, in many countries "unfemini-ne" skills are necessary for women to copeeffectively. Among them the use of technolo-gy, particularly in farming tasks, such aswater-powered units for rice pounding, plum-bing and water pump maintenance, and hea-ting.

3 . Literacy and Numeracy

The workshops promoted combined treatment ofgender issues work skills, and the three R's throughexercises that ask future teachers to employ termsand concepts common to all of the above. If theskills are joined into the fabric, the real-life relevan-ce of one reinforces that of the other. However, oldhabits die hard. From time to time, in a bizarre way,learners insist on using words with functionalcontent such as "groups", "loans", "credits", and" o rganization" in odd combinations with words like"cupboard" or "chair". Another problem consists inlinking numeracy skills to other skills in meaningfulw a y s .

Contents

The attributes outlined below in the "Profileof the Empowered Woman" and the detailedneeds analysis of the target population aretwo important bases on which content selec-tion is made. The profile is important becau-se it brings into the picture the qualities desi-red in women learners.

The Profile of the Empowered Woman

The empowered woman appreciates the timeshe spends on domestic work and outside thehome. She is aware that overwork is harmfulto her physical and mental condition and thathealth is vital. She is able to question herdouble responsibility and seeks help fromothers to have enough leisure to spend onlearning and participating in the social andpolitical life of the community.

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The empowered woman appreciates the value ofher contribution whether remunerated or not.She is aware that she has tremendous potential tocontribute to the progress of her family, commu-nity and nation. With that understanding, she isconfident of her worth, is open-minded and canappreciate others.

Aware of her productivity, she seeks to improveher skills and knowledge continuously. She has enoughinformation sources (such as extension services, avai-lable and relevant technology) and makes sure shebenefits from them. She appreciates the knowledge gai-ned from reading and reads regularly.

The empowered woman understands thatshe is a human being and can control her own life.Hence, she could and should question the familyand social practices which negatively affect her. Sheseeks to get scientific insights into superstitions, andchallenges those which are unjust to women.

She has freedom of movement and expres-sion on a par with men. She appreciates herstrengths and weaknesses and seeks self-i m p r o v e-m e n t .

She can lead and serve as a positive rolemodel for other women.

The empowered woman is aware of herrights as a citizen and protects them actively. She isconvinced of her equality with men. She knowswhich laws and legal processes treat women unfair-ly and seeks to use her legal knowledge to protecther own and other women's rights.

The empowered woman respects herself anddares take credit and responsibility for her contribu-tion and action. She looks for options and makesinformed decisions. She dares to be different andc r e a t i v e .

The empowered woman appreciatesand supports other women. She is aware thatorganization means strength and seeks tostrengthen her organisational, managementand leadership skills.

The empowered woman is aware thather health is related to the number of childrenshe has. She respects the dignity of woman-hood and appreciates daughters in the sameway she does sons.

The empowered woman nurtures herself.She wants everybody to understand that, as

a human being, she is entitled to happiness in thesame way that others are.She has a zest for life.

The training manual, Educate to Empowerattempts to translate one or more of the above desi-rable attributes into learning content of the curricu-lar units or reading materials.

Content Presentation

The debate on the desirable qualities of theempowered woman centers on competence, profi-ciency and behavior attributes. It also spells out animplicit scenario in which the woman sheds theyoke of the numerous social, cultural and economicr o l e s .

It is possible that in a few countries, a smallnumber of women may possess these qualities.H o w e v e r, these women remain a small minority inany country - - so widespread, cross-n a t i o n a l l y, arethe constraints to emancipation.

Educate to Empower attaches equalimportance to the productive and reproductivefunctions of the woman. Emphasis on one to theexclusion of the other either prevents womenfrom being economically active or saddles themwith additional and burdensome responsibilities.Programmes developers must ensure that thecontents of a programme help women raise theirawareness regarding their conditions and ques-tion the asymmetrical relations within the house-hold and society.

In the final analysis, all the knowledge, skillsor attitudes promoted by a programme must be use-ful in providing learners with knowledge, skills andattitudes which equip them to take actions forchanges which will improve their status in societyand lead to their emancipation.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring is done informally. Visits tofocal point and traget populations offer betterinsights into the project realities and give anidea of improvements required and lessonslearned. Informal discussion and contact withlife in target areas along with the analysis ofcurricular materials, help make them realistic

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and relevant. This reflects the quality of the nationaltraining which, in turn, echoes the degree of eff e c t i-veness of the regional training.

P R O A P questionnaires went regularly to allparticipating countries to assess the pace of progressand provide timely assistance to implementinga g e n c i e s .

Monitoring of national training often indi-cates that generating gender sensitive curriculumand materials is, indeed, an uphill struggle. Wi t h o u tproper guidance and deliberate and timely interven-tion, the products would have concentrated on therole of women as mothers and wives. A r e m e d i a lr e-orientation is often necessary to make up foromissions on other roles.

Informal reports from participants indicatethe degree of their involvement in disseminating ormultiplying the product of a workshop. PROAPcommunicates with individuals that have had regio-nal training to check if they play an optimal role atthe national level and if any support from PROAPcould enhance their output.

Multiplying Ejects

Educate to Empower assumes that eachparticipant in a regional workshop is to org a n i z ea similar workshop in their respective country.The role of the latter is to educate new groups anddevelop better books focused on women's empo-w e r m e n t .

Thus far, at least two workshops have beenheld in each participating country. Some havehad enough resources and stamina to organize upto five workshops. At the national level, traininghad to be adapted to suit specific requirements.

China concentrates on a handful of skills,among them pig-raising, conservation oforanges, mushroom culture and installing heatingsystems. They are making plans to cover otherareas considered necessary for women, such asheating and plumbing.

Bhutan, with no previous experience innon-formal education, organized two nationalworkshops to cover a host of topics fromfamily planning and sharing of houseworkresponsibilities to health and agriculturaltechnology.

Bangladesh has conducted an operationalworkshop to adjust existing curriculum andmaterials to cover empowerment.

The manual, Educate to Empowerwhich documents goals, objectives, learningactivities, time and materials required, is nowbeing translated into national languages foruse as training guidelines.

Lessons Learned

Training which seeks to change long-heldattitudes requires enormous sensitivity andcare. A supportive climate must exist to openminds to alternative ways of thinking andmake them more receptive to change.

Methods seeking attitudinal changehave to be participatory and non-threatening.A built-in component should provide a settingof safety and tolerance in which participantscould intelligently question their own atti-tudes, values and beliefs.

A thorough analysis of needs must pre-cede the get-together phase so that the pro-duct addresses priority concerns. Work skillsalone do not empower women. Programmesfor self-reliance have to include confidencebuilding and other survival skills, such ascommunication, management andproblem-solving.

To integrate work skills, develo-pers have to draw on the latest expertisein relevant fields. To be accurate andfruitful, programmes based on rice-p l a n-ting, for example, should take adequateadvice from agricultural specialists.

Training programmes are betterreceived as a package of vocationalskills, reading and writing, gender orien-tation, and leadership training.

Numeracy and literacy must beintegrated into functional contents inmeaningful ways.

E x t r a-curricular activities fosteringgroup solidarity are as necessary as thetechnical component. This takes a greatdeal of planning and active involvementof the group. While women enjoy priori-ty as workshop leaders in this area, maleparticipants with positive backgroundand experience are very helpful in eff e c-ting a change in gender aptitudes both inwomen and men.

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The key to success in this type of training isparticipation. Active involvement makes the groupfeel the programme is their "own" creation andstrengthens commitment when reproducing theworkshop at the national or sub-national levels.

Empowering women and raising their statusrequires more than changes in women alone. T h esame has to happen to men's attitudes and behavior.This is why materials produced should reach bothmen and women audiences.

Discrepancies persist between the level ofparticipants' background and experience. Tr a i n e r sneed to draw on the positive potential of this reality.Strong, advanced participants could be coaches forthose who need help. Resource persons need to beparticularly responsive to participants' individualneeds and problems.

Discussion

Contents Selection

Experience in implementing Educate toEmpower and in assessing educational mate-rials leads to two important conclusions.

1. Self-reliance is undoubtedly a necessa-ry condition for emancipation. Yet, it isby no means the only one, and certain-ly not a sufficient condition. Millions ofpoor, discriminated and marginalizedwomen, throughout the world, live inhighly unfavorable socio-economic andcultural conditions. They can surviveand help their households do the samebecause they are already highlyself-reliant. Yet, they remain victimizedas far as human rights are concerned.

2. Competence in staying self-sufficientturns into proficiency when there is awill for action on the part of the learn-ers.

The presentation technique is frequently usedin a story/case history format. The stories oftenshow a woman or woman overcome a problem, lea-ding to an improved position. However, a very larg enumber of such materials skim glibly over the most

difficult events in the story. These are theparts which have a critical, positive impact onthe woman succeeding. Such glossing-overleaves the reader with no competencies, andcertainly no proficiencies, to replicate theevent in her life.

An increasing volume of materials onwomen's education has become available inthe region. Particularly since the 1980s, at-tempts have been made to analyze materialsspecially designed for women (UNESCO1990, 1992).

More often than not, the materials,two-dimensionally presented, by themselves,are too static to bring about changes in rea-ders' self-concept. Without carefully plannedactivities to complement the reading mate-rials, e.g., guided discussion, games, shows,role-play and simulation, and under circum-stances of extensive and rigid discriminationagainst women, the story could easily take theaura of myths-entertaining yet impossible tobelieve. The following is an excerpt from anactual booklet written for women. It demons-trates shortfalls of such static materials.

"...She expressed to her uncle and aun-tie her keenness to learn how to read andwrite. Her uncle Jagat promised to help her.He therefore approached the village pan-chayat to start a functional literacy class forwomen. He was informed that in order to starta functional literacy class, a proper accom-modation for a Women's Center was needed,and 15-20 women and girls should be willingto join the Center. It was a difficult task toconvince the other women to join the Center.However, with the active support of the villa-ge people, within a year, a functional literacyclass was started."

The above is typical of the glossing over ofthe most difficult operations, such as those italicised.The uncle readily agreed! The other women wereeasily convinced to join the center! The villagepeople were forthcoming! What exactly had tooccur to make this happen? Surely that is of firstimportance for success!

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Other examples are:

She communicated the idea to thewomen's club. (How?)With active support of the women, sheformed a club. (How was the activesupport produced?)He convinced the village head that lite-racy classes should be started. (How?)The idea was accepted . (What madethem accept?)Women appreciated her decision.(What made them appreciate it and notcastigate her?)Beenu convinced her mother-i n-l a wthat a boy or a girl is of equal signifi-cance. (How?)

Left with no answers to the magic "how", thereaders or learners would hardly achieve competen-ce in replicating the "story" in their lives. The eventsdescribed remain hard to believe or enact in thedisadvantaged scenario of a victimized woman.Fantasies do not raise self-respect. Quite the contra-r y !

At times, the stories indicate the formation ofwomen's groups for action -a realistic alternative tothe very rare event of a woman going it alone. Buthow does a group function effectively? Again anumber of competencies and proficiencies arerequired. Also, is the "learning" or empowermentonly in "storage" competencies, with none of therange of proficiencies needed to take action to reme-dy the disadvantaged situation of women?

Is it that the learning for empowerment onlyproduces pent-up competence, and no proficiency isnecessary to correct the situation of women?

If current materials do indeed provide forsome awareness raising, then the next developmentof learning events, and materials to support it, mayfocus squarely on action to enhance self-r e l i a n c eand emancipation. In other words, empowermenthas to bring about actions to correct disempoweringc o n d i t i o n s .

C l e a r l y, the two-dimensional, staticreading materials do not suffice to raisewomen's awareness on gender issues. Othermaterials and activities will need to be

carefully designated to complement the materials.The materials themselves could serve as a startingpoint for debates, discussions, role-playing, etc.

Questions related to this will include:

1. What important information gaps needto be filled for each important topic?

Example:

What laws regulate workers' rights to paidholidays? Have there been workers whoinsist on these rights? How did they do it? Ifthey failed, what are the obstructing factors?If they demand paid holidays, what would bethe employer's possible reaction? W h a tconditions are necessary for success in obtai-ning paid holidays?

2. Once the information gaps are identified,how can learning activities be designed toensure that learners will want to take actionsto improve the situation, i.e., to demand theirr i g h t s ?

3. What works best in presenting informa-tion? Should the teacher deliver the sameknowledge repeatedly to reinforce the eff e c t ?Should she use the same methods to presentthe same information? Or is a single presen-tation sufficient? What is the general practicen o w ?

4. What are other materials to strengthenexisting materials, e.g., audio-visuals, etc.?

Training Techniques

People teach as they are taught. If participantsare expected to train others to empower womenlearners, they first have to empower themselves.Training must therefore involve them in ways thatenhance confidence in further training.

Training programmes have applied thefollowing:

- group discussion- question and answer

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-songs and games-creative work (e.g., songs and dancesdrawing, story and poem writing)- short talks, presentations- individual work and coaching - case study- analysis of sample materials - preparation of actual materials/curriculum .

Eighty per cent of the time goes to activitiesother than lectures or talks by resource persons asthese are too trainer-centered. Evaluation indicatesthat participants enjoy activities that they describe asinnovative. Nevertheless, better updates on trainingmethodology are necessary to increase overalle ffectiveness in future training.

Questions related to training of trainers oradult educators will include:

• What are existing training methods and prac-tices, their strengths and weaknesses?

• How effective are various methods tailoredto training on sensitive subjects such as gen-der issues?

• How could innovative approaches be used toenhance the effectiveness of training?

• Do current methods enhance women's sta-tus? How?

• How to ensure that the best methods entergeneral practice? What methods work bestwith experienced teachers? And novices?

Empowerment and Policy Makers

The term empowerment has been a nonstar-ter in Asia and the Pacific. Many so-called traditio-nal societies have been vehemently negativetowards any programmes or projects claiming tofocus on the empowerment approach(Ramachandran 1985). The term is interpre-ted to have militant overtones akin to "pit-ting women against men". It has evoked agreat deal of antagonistic feelings among-

policy makers seeing this as a threat to thestability of the family institution or even thehuman race.

Somewhere, somehow, something wentwrong. Policy makers, most of whom are men, havedistanced themselves from even considering theconcept. Their assumption: there cannot be empo-werment of women without disempowerment ofmen. Some have explicity expressed concerns overmen's potential loss of "control" over their wivesand daughters. Others fear, genuinely, that they willnot be able to respond to new demands arising fromempowerment education.

Even when policy makers - indeed men ingeneral, are supportive of the empowermentconcept, their support remains largely intellectual.They do not deem it necessary to insist on actionsleading to positive changes. This may be comparedto what happens in many domestic situations. T h ehusband recognizes that strictures on women areu n f a i r. He cannot, however, give up any of the foo-thold he has acquired in his job or any of his pay inorder to share responsibility for the children.

The question facing policy makers,with traditional values regarding the roles ofwomen and men in society, is whether suchchanges are desirable and worthy of support.Thus far, advocates of Education forEmpowerment have failed to convince policymakers to see the value of embracingwomen's empowerment as one of the neces-sary prerequisites for advancing society.Arguably, when one examines the situation ofwomen's education in Asia and the Pacific, itcould be said that no country in the region hasmade substantial progress in promotingwomen's empowerment.

One thing is clear, empowerment edu-cation will not make a difference in women'sstatus on a large scale without supportivepolitical will. Pockets of successful projectswill not suffice to build a critical mass ofempowered women (and enlightened men) tosustain any positive changes. Winning thesupport of policy makers is therefore asine-qua-non for empowerment education ifthe latter is to help promote women's advan-cement in society.

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The question is: what types of argu-ments can one use to gain policy makers'ssupport?

Elson (Depthnews 1992) is doubtfulabout the wisdom of the prevalent practice ofthe attempt to fit the women's agenda into theoverall development process. She argues that"...although women in development pro-grammes have elements of empowerment,they are based more on the "static" rather thanthe "dynamic" concept of power."

Miller (1992) asserts that basing argu-ments on the male/female dichotomy isnon-productive. Instead, she proposes that thediscussion considers the new term of the"human community".

Clearly, enough groundwork must bedone to establish forceful and reasonable (ifnot non-threatening) arguments. This isnecessary before negotiation begins.

Some questions related to these issuesare:

- What are effective and convincingarguments in favour of empowerment?

- Are there special programmes for advo-cating acceptance of empowerment?

- Does advocacy focus exclusively onpolicy makers or does it cover wideraudience?

- Is lobbying necessary? At what inter-vals should it be done?

- What are effective advocacy methods,media, materials, manner andapproaches?

- In what areas of public policy has advo-cacy been successful in aff e c t i n gchanges? What lessons can be learnedfrom them?

Conclusion

Training to prepare educational pro-grammes for women's empowermentneeds to integrate the four components:gender issues, work oriented activities,literacy and numeracy skills and prin-ciples of curriculum design. It is yet tooearly to discuss the impact of this trai-ning programme which could only beassessed in terms of how it influenceschanges at the national level. What iscertain is that the seed of education forlearners' empowerment has been sown.C l e a r l y, many problem areas arise.Better understanding of these issueswill help improve the effectiveness ofthe programme which will ultimatelyhelp promote women learners as"empowered" members of their society.

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I am involved in the adult literacy field inCanada as a freelance worker. When I firstbegan to think about the work I have donerecently, to think about issues for women andeducation, I thought first of the projects thatare with women only. I thought of thewomen's literacy group I used to run, thewoman literacy learner I tutor working onreading and writing around her memories ofthe violence in her life, the research project Icarried out with women with limited literacyskills in rural Maritime Canada, and the widevariety of workshops I have given on theissue of women and literacy.

I didn't think of the literacy work I dowith mixed groups, on leadership, trainingand facilitation skills. I was struck by that andas I began to rethink, realized that there weremany issues of "empowerment" in that workand that whether I work with women alone orin mixed groups, I work as a feminist awareof questions of gender and their intertwiningwith race, class, and ability.

I was also, as I sat down to write, far toolate to do anything but sketch out some notes,and "borrow" from things I had written befo-re, feeling guilty -- why hadn't I got to thisbefore? Why had I gotten sick just when I hadplanned to do it? Of course it is a familiarstory, women who are over-committed, notallowing enough time to take care of our-selves, expecting our bodies to continue onlike machines even if we ignore them, andfeeling guilty when we don't manage to do itall!

That reminded me that there was ano-ther theme in my life - - trying to learn howto do less and respect my needs as well asother people's. This too is about challengeand support and women's education and is aproject I share with many women col-leagues and friends. In these notes I shalllook at some of these sites of women's edu-cation, exploring some key questions they

raise for me as I think about women and thepower to change society.

Women Working Together

In the women's group I led for several yearsthere were usually about six women of diver-se ethnicity, age, ability, experience and lite-racy level. I wrote, in a letter to feminist lite-racy workers, about a key issue from workingwith this group just after I finished workingwith them:

"I have been struggling with manyquestions from my experience ofworking with that group. One of themost obvious has been the diff i c u l t ythe group has had in listening to eachother - in creating a safe place wherethey can all speak- far too often theydon't feel heard. The women who hadwidely varied experience and were ofd i fferent race, ability and age oftenseemed to find their difference morestriking than any commonality ofexperience. Ablism and racism crea-ted many barriers - sometimes gla-ring, sometimes subtle - but alwaysthere. Some of the women in thegroup, perhaps because they wereused to being devalued as "illite-rates", seemed to look to me, the faci-l i t a t o r, for all their support ratherthan the other women in the group.They often ended up competing formy attention rather than being the"group" of supportive women which Ihad hoped to help form. They pushedthe limits of my energies over andover again, leaving me always won-dering what I did wrong - how couldI help the group become mores e l f-s u fficient and better able to lis-ten to and support each other. "1

THINKING ABOUT WOMEN AND LITERACY: SUPPORT AND CHALLENGE

Jenny Horsman

Thus my challenge became to findways to help the women to learn to listen toeach other, to value each other, and so tostrengthen their valuing of themselves andtheir own words.

Working on Issues of Violence

At the same time I wrote about working onissues of violence:

" A long while ago the women's group had asession where they talked about their child-hoods and shared some of the horrendousstories of drudgery and hard work. I feel thatit is really important that there are spaces forissues of violence to be spoken about, but Ihave often felt worried that the women some-times don't want to speak in the group, butonly to me alone, and wonder sometimeshow to cope with such revelations. I am oftenscared that I won't react in the best way, Ithink too I have been ambivalent about myrole, feeling that the learners should be spea-king with a counsellor trained in how to dealwith such issues. Also I so badly want tochange the situation for the learner that myown helplessness is tough for me to deal with-I feel so inadequate that I can not rescue her.I also discovered that by listening to a lear-ner's account that she had not told before, Istepped into an unknown area, where therelationship of trust that has been developingis precious, but also demanding, and farbeyond the limits of the literacy interac-t i o n . " 2

Since then I have continued to tutor andhave gone through many highs and lows as Itried to learn how to support this student butnot rescue her, to encourage her to take up herown challenges rather than to lean on me. Ihave had to learn to set limits and support herin keeping them. I have had to becomeclear about the limits of my role, my res-ponsibility and my time and avoid beingdrawn in to providing support that wasbeyond what I felt comfortable with. I too

have had to take on the challenge to exploremy own difficult childhood memories.Together we have learnt to develop a newform of relationship between tutor and stu-dent, respectful of both our needs.

This tutoring, though it often seems immen-sely difficult, has also been the most exciting litera-cy learning I have seen. I have often spoken aboutthe value of literacy as allowing a person to readabout the experience of others and write about herown experience, so finding the commonality of herown situation and distancing from her own expe-rience to consider her own experience more fully.But I have never seen the value of this so powerful-ly as in tutoring focusing on experience of violenceand abuse which have been hidden as a shamefulsecret. In community-based programmes inToronto, most workers are adamant that we cannotwork with issues of abuse because it is too diff i c u l tand too specialized an area. We are not therapists, Iam often told, and should not be dabbling, and yethow can we separate literacy from this very crucialexperience of so many women's lives, withoutdenying women the "empowering " possibilities ofl i t e r a c y ?

I feel that working in an individual tutoringsituation has been invaluable for this woman whohad never told anyone about the sexual, physicaland mental abuse of her childhood. It has helped herbuild her sense of herself as someone who has aright to demand respect and she has become a vocalspokesperson for learners' rights. But I would preferto move towards addressing these questions in agroup, where women can break the isolation andfind common ground. I have been exploring thepossibilities of running a women's writing groupjointly with a therapist from a community healthcentre. Neither the literacy programme nor the heal-th centre saw this as a priority and we have not yetbeen able to find funds.

In Toronto, the field of work on issuesof violence and literacy have remained extre-mely separate. I would like to explore a varie-ty of ways of working collaboratively withwomen who have been abused, for example,with women working as counsellors inwomen's shelters, or feminist therapists sothat we can learn from their experience on

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how to deal sensitively, not only with theissues, but also with the relationships whichdevelop. This could mean anything from tal-king with these women, to holding work-shops on issues such as 'women and violence'or 'boundaries between women counsellingand women being counselled', to rethinkingand reorganizing the ways and places thatliteracy happens.

Asking Questions About Women's Lives

During the research I carried out with womenin rural, Maritime Canada, I explored the pro-mise of literacy programmes. A link betweenviolence and literacy became a powerfultheme. In 1990 I wrote about the study:

" Women's dependence on men, oninadequately paid work and on socialservice assistance is threaded throughthe lives of many of the women I inter-viewed. This dependence leads to vio-lence: the violence of women's isolationin the household and sometimes actualphysical violence; the violence of thedrudgery of inadequately paid, hard,monotonous jobs; the violence of livingon an inadequate welfare income andenduring the humiliation of receivingassistance. Some of the violence is spo-ken of and shared, but much is enduredin the silence and isolation of the home.

The illusion that illiteracy createswomen's problems obscures the violence ofmany women's lives. Our attention is focu-sed, not on the way women's lives are organi-zed, or disorganised, but on women's failureto become literate. These women's lives arethe context in which they experience the"promise" of literacy, and dream of how dif-ferent their lives will be when they improvetheir education level. Yet for these womenthere is little chance that this promisewill be fulfilled, particularly throughmany of the training programmes womenare offered, which serve instead to

embed them more firmly in their currentlives".

I concluded the paper:

"Many of the women interviewed spokeabout the importance of the challenge of aneducational programme and the search formeaning in their lives, they wanted some-thing in their minds "besides the everyday".Where programmes create space for the dis-cussion of issues and for questioning the mea-ning of literacy, this can lead to exploring theunproblematic connection between educationand "getting ahead". In this way the nature ofthe challenge of literacy can be broadenedand the possibilities of social change streng-thened. 1'3

The importance of not simply offeringwomen access to literacy for the sake of theirchildren, and of helping them to do their tra-ditional role better, is striking in Canada, asfunding for women's programming is increa-singly framed around "family literacy", as ifliteracy for women can only be justified forthe sake of the children. Literacy workers are,I think, also frequently caught in the bind ofwanting to justify the importance of fundingfor literacy programming and so inflating thepromise of literacy, although workers knowthat for real change to happen literacy is notenough, much more needs to change in manywomen's lives. We do not want to destroylearners' dreams and hopes, but if women areto gain real power through literacy we mustoffer programmes which assist learners inunderstanding society rather than offeringfalse promises.

Working on Women and Literacy

Workshops with women literacy workersunder the title "women and literacy" are a placewhere we can explore what we are offering womenlearners in current literacy programmes. It has beco-me almost obligatory at conferences and trainings toadd in one session on women! Over the last fewyears I think my workshops on this topic have

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changed gradually from an emphasis simplyon the needs of women learners to much morefocus on the common ground and differencesbetween women learners and workers (and ofcourse I have been pressuring for movingaway from adding women in as one session,asking whether all the rest of the curriculumis about men?). I have also begun to explorequestions of feminism and literacy with broa-der audiences, focusing on the questions ofwhy literacy is a feminist issue and why femi-nism is a literacy issue.

In one workshop women talked a lotabout the conditions of their own work andthe lack of "safe" places to reflect on theirwork with women with other women whoshared some understanding. Women spoke ofknowing that they must hide their feminismand sometimes also their sexual orientationfor the sake of avoiding confrontation in theirworkplaces. One participant in this workshopsaid:

"I am discouraged by the state of thesocial/economic context in which wework - as women, as feminists. Howcan we support poor women, ethnicwomen, ourselves as practitioners inthe political scene in British Columbia?Lots of anger and frustration surfacedduring this 'safe' workshop."4

The crucial question on how far you can supportothers in gaining power when your own power is limited,was raised. By the end of this conference women had deci-ded to try to form a feminist literacy workers' network tocreate more safe places to discuss and develop our unders-tanding and our practice. The Feminist Literacy Wo r k e r sNetwork has since created a system of "wandering books"which people write in and pass on, and held one conferen-ce. Both these developments have been exciting, thoughperhaps not surprisingly, the conference did not always feel'safe' to all women as there was much difference about whe-ther everyone could identify with the concept of feminismor whether some people were comfortable withothers' discussion about heterosexism andhomophobia. The network continues,though we struggle to find the time to carry

out the work needed, wanting the organiza-tion to become a place of communicationwhere we can challenge and support eachother, not become one more burden.

Training Literacy Workers

The training of literacy workers is anotherplace for us to question our current practice inliteracy programming in Toronto. Too oftenwe design creative, innovative educationalapproaches for the women we work with, butourselves participate in traditional hierarchi-cal educational processes which can be extre-mely silencing and disempowering. This trai-ning course was shaped around a vision ofbringing a wide variety of people together tolearn from each other and look critically atour literacy work to build a stronger move-ment. The participants included paid workers,volunteers and adult learners, with a widerange of educational backgrounds. As thecourse progressed it became clear that explo-ring difference was one focus of the course. Isought throughout the process to create anenvironment of support and challenge for allparticipants. Before the course began thevision was described:

"After all the research was completed wegenerated a vision for the course we weretrying to create, building on the directions wewere given in combination with our ownbeliefs. Our goal became to create an innova-tive experiment in participatory education.We wanted a wide variety of people inthe course who would learn from eachother, from readings and from reflec-ting on their own experience. We wan-ted the course to strengthen and buildthe literacy movement, not simply buildindividual careers. We wanted to createan educational experience which couldnot be labelled as community collegelevel, undergraduate, graduate or any-thing else. We wanted everyone tobring their knowledge, skills, expe-r i e nce and at t i tudes to the c lass

66

ready to examine them critically and considernew ideas and possibilities. We hoped peoplewould be challenged by each other, by newmaterial from readings, tapes and lectures,and by the processes they engaged in thecourse. We hoped this challenge would leadthem to develop their own thinking andincrease their own knowledge and skills. Wewanted to build a supportive environmentwhere people would feel able to questiontheir own beliefs and their own practices. Wehoped people would take their learning in thecourse back to their programmes to enrichthe work that is carried on there. We believedthat the projects could lead to workshops,articles, radio programmes, manuals andbibliographies which would provide sourcesfor others in the literacy movement to sharein the learning. We decided to offer a certifi-cate which described the course and indica-ted the amount of work required to completeit and we would ask each participant to writetheir own statement for the certificate so thatit would be clear that each person had takenon their own challenge.

We were eager for people of differentbackgrounds to work together in this course.We set the following criteria to make it clearwho was eligible:

- you have experience in literacy as apaid worker, a volunteer or a learner;

- you want to stay involved in literacywhile you are in the course;

- you have a way to contribute to the lite-racy movement; and

- you are prepared to question the wayswe do literacy work and the ways wethink about literacy."

We saw it as a central focus of the course tocreate a community which valued difference. Wewanted to acknowledge differences amongst thegroup and encourage people to read or listen to dif-ferent types of material as preparation, and to drawon and value all their varieties of experience. Wewanted to break down the barriers often

experienced when we assume diff e r e n c e sbased on our labels. We were trying to moveaway from categories of difference common-ly used such as learner/ tutor/graduate/dro-pout. We wanted to acknowledge differencesof experience, skills, knowledge and approa-ch in the class and work to avoid seeing thesedifferences as hierarchical. We did not wantto see being a learner as offering the truthabout literacy or having, as one learner put it,"those big papers" as offering the truth. Wehad to be aware of the way these differences,and the usual prejudices in society, some-times create barriers to good communication.Our aim in this course was to challenge the catego-ries of difference that we usually live by and to crea-te a situation where we would all learn to listen bet-ter and learn from the rich diversity of people in thecourse, which would be a " springboard for creativechange within our lives" (as Audre Lorde puts it).5We wanted to create a climate of trust and respectwhere people would not assume that the usual labelstold us all we need to know about a person, wherewe would all learn from those we do not usuallylook to as teachers. We did not want a group that allshared one approach. We hoped we would learnfrom our different viewpoints and our contrasts.

The traditional education system operatesthrough continual streaming, though sometimes it isquite hidden. At all levels the system suggests it ispossible to label one person as smarter than another,one as more advanced than another, one as havingmore knowledge and so able to teach one with lessknowledge and so only able to learn. Tr a d i t i o n a leducation ignores the fact that we all come into aneducational process with different skills, experienceand knowledge and it judges us only on whether weleave with the same knowledge. The many peoplein literacy programmes demonstrate that the hierar-chical system (the way of working that says we canknow who is better than another, and label every-thing and everybody in grades) in schooling doesn'twork, or works only to tell some people that they arec l e v e r, successful, important, while it tellsothers that they are stupid, can not learn, havenothing to offer. In this course we wanted todemonstrate that something other than this

67

traditional education based on so many labelsand levels was possible, that we could inventnew creative ways of learning together. Iwanted to help everyone to take on their ownchallenges and to go away having learnt fromthe processes, the content, and many of theindividuals in the coursed

In the course we sought to challenge the tra-ditional hierarchical notions of education and tocreate a microcosm of a society which did not labelor categorize according to hierarchies, but whichalso valued our differences. It was clear during thecourse that many of the prevalent hierarchies andprejudices in society were still operating. I wouldnot want to suggest that we can break them downsimply through individual change. But we wereable to create an environment with sufficient trust tobegin to explore difference and the meaning of pri-vilege and oppression and the categories ofclass/gender/race/ethnicity/ ability as well as thecategories particular to the literacy movement oflearner/tutor/paid worker. In this way, though wewere not focusing solely on gender in this course,we were participating in a vision for a form of edu-cation which would offer challenge and support forall participants, rather than building educational pri-vilege and strengthening inequalities.

Creating Limits

Lastly I had wanted to speak about the impor-tance for women educators to consider ourown needs and set our limits in such a waythat we are not always overstretched, but todo that I would stretch my own limits! So Iwill end saying that when we think ofwomen, power and empowerment we cannotafford to ignore ourselves and the model weare offering the women we work with.

In all these sites of women's education Ihave been exploring I would argue that weneed to assess critically the detailed practiceof both our literacy teaching and our teachertraining. We need to reassess how to acknow-ledge and work with women's experience ofviolence within the field of literacy tea-ching. We must consider the value of allof this work in enabling us to envision

and move towards a changed, egalitariansociety.

Notes

1. This was written for "Wandering Book" a project ofthe Feminist Literacy Workers Network Wanderingbooks are sent from woman to woman in the net -work and we each add an open letter to otherwomen in the network They move slowly round thenetwork and two years later I am still waiting forthe book I started to return to me!

2. This was also part of my Wandering Book entry.

3. From the problem of illiteracy and the promise ofliteracy, in Hamilton, M., Barton, D. & Ivanic R.(eds.) Worlds of Literacy. Clevedon: MultilingualMatters. 1992.

4. Workshop participant's comment from Ta l k i n gabout lives: Planning Programs for Women, inLiteracy 2000, Make the next ten years matter.Conference Summary, ed. Bossort, Patty et al. NewWestminster: Douglas College, 1990.

5. In "Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women RedefiningDifference" in Sister Outsider, Essays and Speechesby Audre Lorde. Freedom, CA: The Crossing Press,1984.

6. From the curriculum package for Literacy Workers'Training Course: Building the Movement, MetroToronto Movement for Literacy, Toronto, Canada,forthcoming

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Ms Namtip Aksornkool, Thailand

Ms Ghada Aljabi, Syria

Ms Amal Baker Barghouti Krieshi,West Bank/Palestine

Mr Paul Bélanger, Canada

Ms Bettina Bochynek, Germany

Ms Birgit Brock-Utne, Norway

Ms Anita Dighe, India

Ms Ursula Giere, Germany

Ms Jennifer Horsman, Canada

Ms Ellen Ismail-Schmidt, Germany

Ms Lucita Lazo, Thailand

Ms Changu Mannathoko, Botswana

Mr Werner Mauch, Germany

Ms Carolyn Medel-Anonuevo,

PhilippinesMs Magda Mohamed Ali, Yemen

Ms Yuko Nakazono, Japan

Mr Adama Ouane, Mali

Ms Patricia Rodney, Barbados

Ms Nelly P Stromquist, USA

Mr Peter Sutton, United Kingdom

Ms Sofia Valdivielso-Gomez, SpainMs Sallie Westwood, United Kingdom

Ms Walaitat Worakul, Thailand

Ms Miryam Zuniga Escobar, Colombia

Principal Regional Office for Asia andthe Pacific (PROAP), Bangkok

Ministry of Culture, Damascus

Feminist Counselling Programme Union of PalestinianWorking Women’s Committee, East Jerusalem

UIE

UIE

University of Oslo - Institute for Educational Research,Oslo

National Institute of Adult Education, New Delhi

UIE

Spiral Community Resource Group, Toronto

FrauenTechnikZentrum DFR e. V., Hamburg

International Labour Organisation - Regional Officefor Asia and the Pacific (ROAP), BangkokSchool of Education - International Unit - University ofBirmingham, Birmingham (GB)

UIE

UIE

SWAY Project - Taiz - World Education Inc. Taiz(Yemen)

UIE

UIE

International Council for Adult Education, Toronto

School of Education - University of Southern California,Department of Administration and Policy, Los A n g e l e s

UIE

UIEUniversity of Leicester - Department of SociologyLeicester

Integrated Pocket Area Development Project, Chiang MaiFacultad de Educacion - Departamento de Pedagogia yCultura- Universidad del Valle, Cali

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LIST OF PARTICIPANTS OF THE SEMINAR