2. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 4, Issue 6, November - December (2013)
Keywords: Women
Legal Empowerment.
Empowerment,
Approaches,
Competency
Development
Process,
1. INTRODUCTION
Educational development and participation in the workforce are prime factors in the changing
situations of women in society. The movement towards equality and justice for women is gradually
captivating Indian society as a human development indicator.There are many factors in improving
women empowerment namely, social awareness, decision making, and economic development. The
concept of empowerment is not a new one. References to the term date back to the 1960s,
particularly in the Afro-American movement and in Paolo Freire’s theory based on the development
of a critical conscience. Since 1985, popular women’s movements in Latin America and the
Caribbean as well as feminist movements have seen the notion of empowerment as being tied, on the
one hand, to the seizing of power, by emphasizing mainly the improvement of self-esteem and selfconfidence as well as the ability to chose what direction one’s life should take; and on the other to
the collective power to change gender relations in the economic, political, legal and socio-cultural
spheres.
At the level of development bodies, the concept of empowerment was adopted after the
Beijing Conference (1995). The Beijing Declaration (section 13), presents women’s empowerment as
a key strategy for development:
“Women’s empowerment and their full participation on the basis of equality in all spheres of
society, including participation in the decision-making process and access to power, are fundamental
for the achievement of equality, development and peace”. Unfortunately, the approach as used by
development bodies and the offered quantitative indicators tend to reduce its scope to women’s
ability to take individual responsibility by their own.
The indicators do not consider changes in economic and social structures, those that refer to
collective empowerment, linked to social change. N. Kabeer (1992, 1994) shows that while it is
important to look at the quantitative aspect, for example the number of women holding a
management position in a firm or a political mandate, and this is not enough. The notion of
empowerment goes further, questioning the roles of different players, men and women, within
development policies; and getting people to think about conflicts and power, but also to examine
symbolic referents and deep social structures. .
1.1 The four aspects of women empowerment
Assets (power to): This concept refers to greater economic power in terms of material assets such as
income, land, tools or technology. This being said, such economic power is not restricted to the
possession of resources and wealth, but also includes better health, more time, access to certain
services such as loans, information and training, health centres and markets etc.
Knowledge and know-how (power to): This means having more practical and intellectual
knowledge or skills, enabling a person or a community to make the most of the opportunities that
arise. It refers to management of people (leadership), techniques or procedures, training (literacy) as
well as the development of thought and reason as critical analysis skills. Know-how highlights the
importance of applying knowledge or the ability to translate one’s knowledge into action or
resources.
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3. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 4, Issue 6, November - December (2013)
Will (internal power): This refers to power within, psychological strength or spiritual power: one’s
values and fears, self-confidence and self-perception. It is the ability and will to make one’s own
choices for the future, the awareness of one’s own life plans as well as the challenges facing one’s
community. The concept of “will” also includes the two elements of state of mind (being) and the
ability to use it towards others (knowing how to be).
Capacity (internal power and power with) :This means having the opportunity to make decisions,
take on responsibility, be free to act as one pleases and use one’s resources (assets, knowledge, will).
Decision-making encompasses several aspects:
•
•
The ability to make one’s own decisions; the ability to take part in decision-making; the
ability to influence decision-making and control those who make decisions on one’s behalf;
The ability to make decisions for others, and to show authority (in situations where someone
has to make the final decision).
1.2 Approaches to women empowerment
Figure: 5.1 Depicting Approaches of Women Empowerment
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4. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 4, Issue 6, November - December (2013)
In order to empower women, researchers found that female education significantly is
essential to seek access to resources, lobby for changes contributes to human capital formation of the
society. These are not mutually exclusive categories nevertheless these show us the case of
powerlessness of women. Hence in order to empower women. It is essential to seek the access to
resources. Changes in laws which are inaccessible or inappropriate and negotiate with public
institutions fig 5.1 shows the means and strategies for achieving women empowerment through
1. Consciousness raising approach
2. Economic empowerment approach
3. Integrated development approach
1.3 Competency development process
Women empowerment is possible by the three stages in the Competency development
process i.e.via, data gathering, data analysis and validation. The work involves understanding and
appreciation of job roles, identifying major categories of skills, and defining high level competencies
that may be required. The next stage involves reviewing the list of probable competencies,
constructing appropriate definitions for the competency sets, assigned at proficiency levels. This is
followed by validating the content and knowledge gained, while the mapping process has been in
progress, to reinforce levels and intensity of proficiency in particular critical or mega competency
and to redefine competency where required.
People have and acquire
:Competencies
We apply these in the form of
Behaviour :(Actions, thougt)
Our behaviour produces
outputs
How this is done yields
Results
Fig 5.2 Defining Competencies in Terms of Behaviors Output and Results
The study empowerment opens up new doors to the development of competencies in large for
the betterment of the Society in totality. “Competency” has two relevant meanings –
The first, addresses the ability of an individual to perform effectively in a job-relevant area.
The second, is a definition of what is required of an individual for effective performance.
These two are closely related but distinct. The second meaning involves defining what is important
for a job. Defining job competencies is useful in assisting individuals develop their competencies for
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5. International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 - 6510(Online),
Volume 4, Issue 6, November - December (2013)
that job. This article uses the second meaning a competency is a clearly stated definition of a
performance area related to success in a job or role. Building on this definition of a performance area
related to success in a job or role.
Building on this definition a competency model is a grouping of individual competencies,
which describes all, or most of the requirements for job function, or organizational success as seen in
the fig 5.2 above.
1.4 Action – work-development and support
Competency management helps women to get into action so that they achieve planned and
agreed results, It is a work and people-related activity, and focuses on what has to be do now, how it
is done and what is achieved. But it is equally concerned with developing people helping them to
learn, and providing them with the support they need to do well now and in the future.
The emphasis should be managing competency throughout the year. This will involve the
continuous monitoring and feedback and formal reviews. It is necessary to enhance deliberate
learning from experience, which means learning from the problems, challenges and successes
inherent in people’s day to day activity. The premise is that every task individuals undertake presents
them with a learning opportunity. This will be the case as long as they are encouraged to reflect on
what they have done and how they have done it, and draw conclusions on what they need to do when
they are next presented with a similar task or have to undertake a different task requiring the use of
newly acquired skills. Providing the facilities and resources necessary to meet expectations should
also provide support on a continuing basis through coaching and counseling.
1.6 Conclusion
Women are a key factor in development of a society as well as the nation. Women's living
standard is the most important factor so far as human development is concerned because they
procure and nurture the child as a nation's greatest resource. From our discussion, A robust and
effective legal system based on the rule of law is very important to assisting women to become equal
partners in decision-making and development. Over the last couple of decades, the international
community has invested substantially in programs aimed at strengthening the rule of law in
developing countries. Despite this investment, the rule of law continues to mean very little for the
vast majority of women and girls. But with a positive note we can conclude that the goal of women’s
empowerment can be achieved by making them conscious about their rights through the provision of
education, by making them economically empowered through labour force participation and by
focusing on integrated development through enhancing women’s overall development via improving
their competencies to achieve excellence in all spheres of life.
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