Empowerment of Women: A Conceptual Framework

The term empowerment has been widely used in the social sciences across a broad variety of disciplines. Empowerment in woman‘s development is a way of defining, challenging and overcoming barriers in her life through which she increases her ability to shape her life. The process of empowerment will not only be able to improve their skills and access to productive resources, but also succeed in enhancing quality, dignity and work in the society status. The effect of empowerment of women creates a powerful influence on the norms, values and finally the laws that govern these communities (Cheryl 1999; Czuba 1999; Nanette 1999; Page 1999). Empowerment includes cognitive and psychological elements, such as a women‘s understanding of her condition of subordination and the causes of such conditions. This requires an understanding the self and the cultural and social expectations, which may be activated by education.