“I could do that!”– The role of a women's non-governmental organisation in increasing women's psychological empowerment and civic participation in Wales

Leah Hibbs

doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2021.102557

Abstract

Empowering women and girls, and increasing their participation in civil society, has become a core focus of international sustainable development policy. However, there is a lacuna regarding research into the role of women's Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) which improve women's psychological, feminist empowerment in the United Kingdom and so findings are presented here from an in-depth qualitative case-study of a Welsh women's NGO which aimed to psychologically empower women and, subsequently, improve their civic participation. The women interviewed experienced increases in their individual psychological empowerment, formed important ‘sisterhood’ and friendships, and did become more involved in civil society. The paper centralizes the ways in which the NGO played a key role in individually empowering interviewees, further equipping them with skills and resources to enable their future participation in civic life. This paper makes an original empirical and conceptual contribution by adapting Zimmerman's Psychological Empowerment Framework to offer new insights into the processes of engendering civic participation and empowering women in a feminist group context.

Highlights

This paper explores the role of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Wales working to psychologically empower women with the aim that they would become more involved in civic society and their community
Whilst both undoubtedly important areas of focus, the literature search conducted for this study found that NGOs centred on improving women’s psychological empowerment
Drawing on the rich accounts of the seven women NGO organisers and course participants, the following discusses whether the NGO delivered the four factors of the empower ment cycle framework

Summary

Introduction

This paper explores the role of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Wales working to psychologically empower women with the aim that they would become more involved in civic society and their community. The inclusion of women’s empowerment in the international sustainable development agenda and literature (see UN Sustainable Development Goal 5) has meant that much existing empowerment research has concentrated on NGO pro grammes for economic and educational empowerment of women and girls in countries in Asia, Africa, and South America (see Cheston & Kuhn, 2002; Downs, 2007; Hatlebakk & Gurung, 2014; Klugman et al, 2018; Mahmud, 2003) Whilst both undoubtedly important areas of focus, the literature search conducted for this study found that NGOs centred on improving women’s psychological empowerment. Psychologically empowering women firstly means ensuring that women realise they have the power, self-confidence, and knowledge to make decisions and collaborate with those who share similar goals to implement change in their community (Townsend, 1999). Zimmerman’s (1995) influential nomological Psy chological Empowerment Framework is comprised of three inter-related ‘components’: intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioural, which recognize the temporally fluid and socially contextualized na ture of individuals’ empowerment, and the ‘confluence of macro and micro level forces’ at play (Speer, 2000, p. 52)

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Conclusion