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Examining an Empowerment Framework: A Look at Female Artisans Within a Ghanaian NGO

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_projects/bn999833k

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  • This essay examines the processes of empowerment within an artisan NGO in Ghana. An empowerment framework focusing on the concepts of ‘agency’, ‘resources’ and ‘achievements’ are examined through interviews with women weavers, batikers and seamstresses. Their narratives reveal that a complex set of structural and cultural inequalities shape women’s specific struggles, and constrain their ability to make positive personal and social change. Currently, the literature on empowerment places emphasis on choice, decision-making, realizing opportunities, and community action; choice is thought to bring about agency and individualism. My analysis finds that the emphasis within the economic development literature primarily on the alleviation of poverty may exaggerate the importance of individual autonomy among women who are highly interconnected within their communities. Overall, I find that the ability to change awareness of inequality into agency depends upon factors that range from education to political conditions and cultural norms.
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