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Empowering women

Empowering women is a big responsiblity, but it's also vital for gender equality. Women used to be limited in their house and were not allowed to leave the house for employment, before, but now things have drastically changed. Women's empowerment has become a significant topic of discussion in development and economics. Economic empowerment allows women to control and benefit from resources, assets, and income. It also aids the ability to manage risk and improve women's well-being.It can result in approaches to support trivialized genders in a particular political or social context. While often interchangeably used, the more comprehensive concept of gender empowerment concerns people of any gender, stressing the distinction between biological and gender as a role. Women empowerment helps boost women's status through literacy, education, training and awareness creation.Furthermore, women's empowerment refers to women's ability to make strategic life choices that were previously denied them.
Women's empowerment is key to economic and social outcomes. Benefits from projects that empower women are higher than those that just mainstream gender. More than half of bilateral finance for agriculture and rural development already mainstreams gender, but only 6 percent treats gender as fundamental. If half of small-scale producers benefited from development interventions that focused on empowering women, it would significantly raise the incomes of an additional 58 million people and increase the resilience of an additional 235 million people.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), increasing women's empowerment is essential for women's well-being and has a positive impact on agricultural production, food security, diets and child nutrition.
Women will be less likely to be selected to lead and be involved in politics to make decisions. Women have been unable to become leaders in their communities due to financial, social and legal constraints. Organizational and cultural limitations also affect women in the fields where men are dominant. Those industries include science, engineering, finance and much more.

Feminist Approach

Feminism is defined by the movement's goal of creating women's empowerment.Two methods feminists use to facilitate a sense of women empowerment are consciousness-raising and building relationships with the women participants and their external oppressors.
Raising consciousness To create women empowerment, feminists commonly use consciousness raising. When raising consciousness, women not only become knowledgeable about their personal struggles but how it is related to political and economical issues. Raising consciousness allows marginalized individuals to see where they are placed in the larger social structure and pinpoint the root of their oppression. Awareness of their problems will initiate self-mobilization which precisely creates empowerment.
However, scholars Shane Brady and Mary O'Connor have pointed out the term “raising-consciousness” may be misunderstood and offensive to participants. Using the term “raising-consciousness” inflicts the notion that the marginalized community is not aware of their oppression and how to deal with it.

Barriers

Many of the barriers to women's empowerment and equity are the result of cultural norms. While many women are aware of the issues posed by gender inequality, others have become accustomed to it.Many men in power are hesitant to disrupt societal norms that are unfair to women.
Research shows that the increasing access to the Internet can also result in an increased exploitation of women. Releasing personal information on websites has put some women's personal safety at risk. In 2010, Working to Halt Online Abuse stated that 73% of women were victimized through such sites. Types of victimization include cyber stalking, harassment, online pornography, flaming, and especially sexual harassment in the workplace. It occurs most frequently in business, trade, banking and finance, sales and marketing, hospitality, civil service, lecturing, teaching, and education. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), sexual harassment is a clear form of gender discrimination based on sex, a manifestation of unequal power relations between men and women. The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) is urging for increased measures of protection for women against sexual harassment and violence in the workplace. 54% (272) had experienced some form of workplace sexual harassment. 79% of the victims are women; 21% were men.

Definition

Systemic inequality

Manifested as:
• Structural discrimination
• Adverse social norms
• Gendered division of care labour
• Crisis, conflict and climate change
• Shrinking fiscal space for public
goods, Gender-blind policies and frameworks, Backsliding

Inequality of opportunity

Affects:
• Distribution of resources
• Income
• Labour force participation
• Business growth
• Asset ownership
• Representation
• Leadership

Inequality of outcomes

Resulting in:
• Vulnerability
• Exploitation
• Poverty
• Injustice
• Lack of voice

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