Revisiting Women Empowerment Through a Cultural Lens a In-Depth Analysis of Empowerment Methodologies in Horticulture in Rural Ethiopia

Sarah, D.S.  and Smaranda, B. (2021). ‘Revisiting Women Empowerment Through a Cultural Lens a In-Depth Analysis of Empowerment Methodologies in Horticulture in Rural Ethiopia’.  Frontiers in Psychology’, 12. Pp. 1-15

The authors started with assessing approaches used by international development organisations to address women empowerment in developing countries. Accordingly, they classified the approach as traditional and decolonial approaches. Traditional approach stemmed from neoliberal Western thinking that defined empowerment as “the process by which those who have been denied the possibility to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability”. Whereas decolonial approach goes beyond economic and individualistic view and defines empowerment as “ways of being that produce broader empowerment and sustainable well-being within the cultural ecologies of embedded interdependence that constitute the typical habitat for the marginalised majority of humanity”. 

The author evaluated the design, implementation and evaluation of Non-Governmental Organisations led gender empowerment interventions in rural Ethiopia, using the implication of two cultural dimensions, tightness, and power distance.  Participatory research method is employed anchored in an individualistic, neoliberal view of gender equality and empowerment. Both primary and secondary data were used in this study, primary data being collected through personal interviews of 42 study participants, and semi structured interviews of 20 participants. Secondary data on the other hand originated from the reports of staff members (mostly the project manager, who is the main author of this paper) during observation of training and follow-up conversations with different participants. For data analysis, the raw data were coded using Atlas ti and content analysis employed for data analysis. 

According to the findings of this study, culture tightness is indicated as one of the factors that perpetuates the existing system within the society. Women found to be accepting the existing socialised gender norm that they are expected to perform all household chores and live to the expectation of their husband. Their high dependency on their marriage is very strong to the extent of giving up on their freedom and dreams. The connotation of ‘Good wife’ is one of the social instruments that perpetuates gender bias and discrimination in the study areas. Good wife is explained as a woman who spends the majority of her time by preparing food for her children and husband, who raises her children very well and best serves the interest of her husband. Moreover, women’s perception of their status within the society is found to keep the status quo regardless of visible opportunity to change. Though women appreciate the significance of education to lead a better life, still they hold onto the social norm and gender-based expectation that one woman has in the society. On the other hand, the intervention mechanism aimed at economic empowerment, rather than social justice or promoting gender equality.  

Generally, the author also pointed out the existing challenge regarding project implementation by NGOs to support women empowerment in different cultural settings. The cultural difference between intervention designers, facilitators and the local community needs to be reconsidered. This is because any intervention mechanism shall appreciate the existing societal norms and design specific mechanisms to address each need. Thus a ‘one-size-fits-all’ will not work in this case, and to maximise the project benefit, focus shall be made to understand the cultural dimensions of how women in different social contexts experience empowerment.