Discourses on Women's Empowerment in Ghana

Abstract

Successive post-independence governments have embraced women's empowerment in one form or another, either because of their own ideological positioning, or because of demands by their 'donor friends/partners' and/or organized domestic groups and NGOs. What has emerged is a varied landscape on women's rights and empowerment work comprising the state bureaucracy, multilateral and bilateral agencies, NGOs, and women's rights organizations, with their accompanying discourses. In the Ghanaian context, Nana Akua Anyidoho and Takyiwaa Manuh look at what the discourses of empowerment highlight, ignore or occlude, the convergences and divergences among them, and how they speak to or accord with the lived realities of the majority of Ghanaian women. Given that the policy landscape in Ghana is highly influenced by donors, they ask which discourses dominate, and how are they used for improving women's lives in ways that are meaningful to them.

Balancing Pessimism of the Intellect and Optimism of the Will: Some Reflections on the Capability Approach, Gender, Empowerment, and Education

“…For empowerment critics the term is only useful in helping to identify the political discourses it shapes and how these might obscure features of disempowerment (Eyben, 2008;Sharma, 2008;Anyidoho and Manuh, 2010;Cornwall and Rivas, 2015). However, a wide range of authors, including Batliwala, have argued for the need to take forward a struggle over the meaning of empowerment by reclaiming agendas and spaces for discussion about women's rights and empowerment and actively resisting the strategies that aim to impoverish women or violate human rights.…”

When Empowerment Disempowers: A case study of Ghana’s Community- Based Rural Development Projects

“…In the normative sense, they regard empowerment as being inherently 'good'; when targeted populations are 'empowered', powerless and vulnerable people may be able to participate in their 'communities', reduce their poverty levels, and have a sense of confidence and independence (see also Cornish, 2006;Anyidoho & Manuh, 2010).…”

“…The World Bank argues further that the common elements underlying poverty is the exclusion, voicelessness and powerlessness of the poor; and that, faced with unequal power relations, the poor lack the influence to negotiate better terms for themselves (World Bank, 2000a;2003b). In this regard, the World Bank and other scholars (See Narayan, 1995Narayan, , 2002Botchway, 2001;Cornish, 2006;Anyidoho & Manuh, 2010) have argued for the need to address unequal power relations in order to expand the opportunities and choices of the poor. To achieve this, proponents of the concept of empowerment (see Narayan, 1995, Zimmermann, 1995 Second, scholars disagree on whether 'empowerment' refers to a process or an outcome or both.…”

‘… the donor community, they are not sensitised about these kind of gender things’: incorporating ‘gender’ into the work of a Ghanaian NGO

“…The organisation in fact, works on a diverse range of 'development'-related issues, including health, sustainable livelihoods, vocational training and education, and economic empowerment. However, this said, like many other general development organisations in Ghana (for some recent examples, see Anyidoho and Manuh 2010;Tsikata 2009), the organisation aims to specifically focus on the needs of women and girls, and to incorporate a 'gender' focus into its work. Indeed, the organisation explicitly mentions women and girls in its mandate, and talks of the need for equal opportunities between women and men.…”