Empowering Women from One Milestone to Another

This chapter locates the processes of empowerment using the framework of increased economic, socio-cultural, physical, and political spaces within the lives of women members. This framework is an original contribution of the editor to empowerment studies. Economic spaces are about the ability of women to have access to and control over economic resources. Socio-cultural spaces are about women’s increased status and power within the household and the repositioning of familial hierarchies. Physical spaces are about increased mobility within the community and beyond. Political spaces focus on women’s roles in external groups, organisations, etc. Ultimately, empowerment leads to an increased ability to make decisions, take responsibility for those decisions, and finally see the decisions through to yield positive results that improve the quality of life. This framework allows for connecting the different spaces with each other and to micro and macro changes in the social environment. Microfinance and microinsurance services have enabled processes of empowerment to be activated. Furthermore, the input of ‘plus’ services that Annapurna Pariwar has factored into microfinance and microinsurance has accelerated the empowerment processes. It has also contributed to SDG 5: achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Case studies of select women members will be detailed to capture these processes. There are women who were part of the group of nine women that Medha Tai had initially helped. Some of the case studies will focus on them. Other case studies will feature women who joined the journey along the way. Women will be selected so that there is a variety of lifecycle milestones of both the women and Annapurna Pariwar. This juxtapositioning will draw out various connections between the interventions and the commensurate empowerment impacts that led to achieving SDG 5.