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Gender, Status and Empowerment

Author

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  • Peter Hancock

    (School of Psychology and Social Science Edith Cowan University. [email: p.hancock@ecu.edu.au])

Abstract

This article is based on an AusAID-funded study which sampled 521 young factory women working in Sri Lanka’s largest Export Processing Zone (EPZ) – Katuanayake. The analysis of qualitative data provides insights into the lived experiences of factory women and was designed to provide a more complex understanding of the ways in which women may be empowered or indeed dis-empowered as a result of formal factory employment. The research was funded by AusAID specifically in the interest to offset the macro and often crude ways were adopted in which gender empowerment is measured through the UNDPs Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) and the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index (GGGI). In essence the qualitative research presented in this article shows clearly the shortcomings of the GEM and GGGI and provides new insights into the ways in which women in Sri Lanka’s EPZs experience and understand empowerment. The rationale being that the sample group are at the ‘cutting edge’ of economic development and should be, according to the GEM and GGGI, ‘empowered’ simply because they have full time and relatively well paid employment. Indeed the conclusions in this article present a contrary argument and in the process new ways to conceptualize empowerment of women in developing nations.

Suggested Citation

  • Peter Hancock, 2009. "Gender, Status and Empowerment," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 25(4), pages 393-420, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jodeso:v:25:y:2009:i:4:p:393-420
    DOI: 10.1177/0169796X0902500401
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Michael Engman & Osamu Onodera & Enrico Pinali, 2007. "Export Processing Zones: Past and Future Role in Trade and Development," OECD Trade Policy Papers 53, OECD Publishing.
    2. Stephan Klasen, 2006. "UNDP's Gender-related Measures: Some Conceptual Problems and Possible Solutions," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 243-274.
    3. Johannes Jutting & Christian Morrisson & Jeff Dayton-Johnson & Denis Drechsler, 2008. "Measuring Gender (In)Equality: The OECD Gender, Institutions and Development Data Base," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 9(1), pages 65-86.
    4. J. Pillarisetti & Mark McGillivray, 1998. "Human Development and Gender Empowerment: Methodological and Measurement Issues," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 16(2), pages 197-203, June.
    5. Jacques Charmes & Saskia Wieringa, 2003. "Measuring Women's Empowerment: An assessment of the Gender-related Development Index and the Gender Empowerment Measure," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(3), pages 419-435.
    6. A. Dijkstra, 2002. "Revisiting UNDP's GDI and GEM: Towards an Alternative," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 301-338, March.
    7. Hanny Cueva Beteta, 2006. "What is missing in measures of Women's Empowerment?," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(2), pages 221-241.
    8. Son, Hyun, 2009. "A Cross-Country Analysis of Achievements and Inequities in Economic Growth and Standards of Living," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 159, Asian Development Bank.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ravi Ratnayake & Rajan Sudesh Ratna & Martina Francesca Ferracane & Yann Duval (ed.), 2014. "Impacts of trade facilitation measures on poverty and inclusive growth: Case studies from Asia," ARTNeT Books and Research Reports, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), number brr14.
    2. Peter Hancock & Jonathan Georgiou, 2017. "The Use of Language to Disempower: Two Related Studies of Women in Sri Lanka," Journal of Developing Societies, , vol. 33(1), pages 27-50, March.
    3. Preet Rustagi & Dev Nathan & Amrita Datta, 2015. "Women and Work in South Asia: Changes and Challenges," Working Papers id:6908, eSocialSciences.

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