Women, Power, and Ethnicity: Working Toward Reciprocal Empowermen

Abstract

P. S. E. Darlington and B. M. Mulvaney. (2003). Women, Power, and Ethnicity: Working Toward Reciprocal Empowerment. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 241 pp. Paperback ISBN: 0-7890-1059-3, $24.95. Women, Power, and Ethnicity uses ethnographic methods to investigate women's views of existing power paradigms and introduces an alternative model of power. Personal observations by the authors led them to believe that not all women subscribe to the traditional concept of power (i.e., power based on wealth, resources, influence, and physical strength). Included in the analyses are the additional forms of power, empowerment and personal authority, and a new model of power that Darlington and Mulvaney refer to as reciprocal empowerment. Reciprocal empowerment incorporates into the concept of power the ideas of sharing or working for the common good. They interviewed 136 women who were representative of a number of ethnic groups currently living in Florida: African American, Asian American, Caribbean American, European American, Latin American, Middle Eastern American, and Native American. The study used two methods of data collection: a 52-statement survey that measured the respondents' responses to the attributes of the four models of power and an interview consisting of 30 open-ended questions designed to determine the types of power that women believe are most frequently used or should be used and that they personally practice. One chapter of the book is devoted to the survey and interviews results for the seven ethnic groups. Each chapter begins with a brief history of the ethnic group, focusing on the experiences of women. The roles of women within the ethnic group prior to and since arriving in the United States are investigated. This history is followed by a brief description of the contemporary roles fulfilled by women within each group. This information is important to understanding the ethnic diversity found in the responses given to the survey and interview questions. The analysis section of each chapter begins with a brief description of the demographics of the women interviewed. This is followed by a lengthy discussion of the results from both the survey and the interviews. The conclusions of each chapter comprehensively explain the results in terms of the four types of power: traditional, empowerment, personal authority, and reciprocal empowerment. The final chapter presents the conclusions drawn from all previous chapters. The overall results of the study are mixed. The women did not clearly prefer any single type of power. …