Re-Evaluating the Empowerment Potential of Women’s Paid Work

Abstract

The assumption that women's employment is the key to their empowerment is a longstanding one. This paper through in-depth interviews conducted in 2012 with fifty-six purposively selected women property owners who lived in urban Ibadan, Nigeria, found out that the link is not as straightforward as it is portrayed. Intra-household dynamics continues to shape women's control over income earned and assets acquired. Even when they have control, it does not necessarily lead to a transformation of their subordinate status. Findings reveals that economic empowerment has not yet translated into equity in decision-making. The paper argues that more than economic power is required to attain equality. Women's agency is still socially moulded by notions of obligations and legitimacy. As such, the capability of defining goals and acting upon them is still also very critical.

Sociocultural Barriers to Empowerment of Female University Teachers: An Exploratory Factor Analysis

“…However, few studies negate the positive impacts of women's education and employment on their empowerment. Aluko (2015) argued that the relationship between education, paid work, and females' empowerment was quite complicated. The complex role of women's higher education and employment on women's agency was found evident in the forms of increasing public condemnation, family aggression, and intimate partner violence women face across regions (e.g., Awan, 2016;Eswaran & Malhotra, 2011;Gupta & Yesudian, 2006;Jamal, 2017;Tenkorang, 2018).…”