Engaging with Empowerment

In this fascinating collection of writings, Srilatha Batliwala, feminist thinker and practitioner, explores the many dimensions of what empowerment means for, and to, women. Looking back on a life lived through commitment to a cause—rather than to an organisation or to a sector—and working for it at many levels and locations, she traces the evolution of the concept from the late 1980s till now, unravelling its ambiguities, highlighting insights gained through practice, and analysing how and why it has been depoliticised and reduced by the state and aid agencies.Along the way, Batliwala traverses key sectors, including education for women, politics outside political systems, grassroots movements, energy for sustainable development, and a controversial questioning of a rights-based approach to women’s equality.