Abstract
As previous research in international development has clearly demonstrated (see Banerjee and Prasad, 2008 for an overview), cultural values have an impact on the conceptualization of empowerment. In this paper we explore the implications of Power Distance as a cultural dimension for the use of participatory methodologies toward achieving women empowerment in rural areas in the Global South. Our critical analysis of cultural differences between the intervention facilitator (a Western-based NGO) and a rural community in SNNPR (Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Regions) in Ethiopia reveals how discrepancies in the perception of cultural values impacted the different stages of the intervention. These discrepancies ranged from the principles of facilitation (facilitation from the back and its paradoxical effects in such hierarchical contexts) to the focus on tools (on equality between individuals rather than focus on the family as the smallest unit). Discrepancies also surfaced from the selection criteria of participants (highly vulnerable groups; one spouse per family; number of participants from one community all of which prevented the impact of the intervention to be more powerful in the long run) and from how the participants are organized during trainings (the ratio of mixed vs. segregated groups and the criteria of group segregation – this can play a large role in regard to the potential openness of conversations and the creation of safe spaces to explore new identities which are the key to empowerment). Through all the stages of the intervention, we make suggestions on how to better implement such methodologies in the future, in a context-sensitive manner, by considering the cultural differences in assumptions and practices.
Highlights
International development initiatives fall broadly under two umbrellas: traditional and decolonial approaches
While the relational embeddedness of women and their impact on empowerment has been studied by various scholars we focus in this paper on the dynamics of the differences in power distance between the facilitator and the receiving community and its impact on the empowerment intervention, in a cultural setting characterized by tight norms and strict gender roles
We research such a process, where a participatory method was used in a high power distance country to foster women empowerment in agriculture
Summary
International development initiatives fall broadly under two umbrellas: traditional and decolonial approaches The former, stemming from neoliberal Western thinking (Mohanty, 1995), are generally based on the assumption that access to and involvement in a capitalist economy engenders liberatory effects that lead to an increase in agency and well-being. Within this paradigm, Revisiting Women Empowerment Through a Cultural Lens empowerment is defined as the “process by which those who have been denied the possibility to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability” (Kabeer, 1999). Traditional approaches still dominate public discourse (including UN goals1) and policies of international development institutions
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