Women's empowerment is considered a key driver for social change and an important development objective. Empowerment describes as a process in which women gain the ability to redefine gender roles and the ability to extend possibilities for being and doing. This includes resources and active agency. Despite this, research is limited in scope and geography. Measures to assess empowerment in the development sector often focus on evident forms of agency that do not reflect local meanings of the concept. In South Africa, studies of empowerment are primarily limited to women's decision-making within the household or in their reproductive roles. While many scholarly texts showcase the importance of women practicing their agency for the survival of their households and local communities, few investigate women's own experiences. As such, this thesis aims to raise the importance of women's empowerment in the field of development and to add to understanding of gender in South Africa through ethnographic research methods. Ethnographic research focus on describing and understanding, rather than explaining phenomena. Through semi-structured interviews and participant observations, I explore the ways in which seven women in their local community of Hangberg exercise their agency to develop the community, and the empowerment outcomes of such work. I find that engaging in development activities has realised a proliferation of outcomes relevant to empowerment among the women participants. This includes better intra-household relations, cooperation, wellbeing, and sense of purpose. The women participants see themselves as empowered women who attribute their own personal growth to participating in the development of their community. Furthermore, I find that women actively exercise their agency in response to social, economic and political change. In this, the women participants are exemplars of an alternative ‘solution' to overcoming social and economic despair in their community. At the same time, their empowerment and agency remain limited in terms of levels and reach. The women participants are not able to overcome the broader economic, social and political structures that shape their lives. They remain poised precariously between economic uncertainty and responsibilities of care.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uct/oai:localhost:11427/32438 |
| Date | 22 December 2020 |
| Creators | Akerstedt, Ida |
| Contributors | Tame, Bianca |
| Publisher | Faculty of Humanities, Department of Sociology |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Master Thesis, Masters, MPhil |
| Format | application/pdf |
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