Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women's empowerment
Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women's empowerment
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DOI：
10.1111/1467-7660.00125
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发表时间：
1999-07-01
影响因子：
3
通讯作者：
Kabeer, N
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kabeer, N
本文从这样一种理解开始，即赋予妇女权力是关于那些被剥夺了做出战略性生活选择的能力的人获得这种能力的过程。对增强权能的这种程序性理解与需要对增强权能进行衡量和量化的更为工具主义的宣传形式之间存在着巨大的差距。行使选择权的能力包括三个相互关联的方面：资源（广义上的定义不仅包括获得物质、人力和社会资源的机会，而且包括未来对这些资源的要求）;代理（包括决策过程，以及代理的较难衡量的表现形式，如谈判、欺骗和操纵）;成就（福祉结果）。对一些关于赋予妇女权力的研究进行了分析，以便就衡量赋予妇女权力提出一些重要的方法论观点。本文认为，这三个方面的选择是不可分割的，在确定一个指标的意义，因此，其有效性作为一个衡量赋权。选择的概念通过提及选择的条件、其内容和后果而得到进一步限定。这些限定条件代表着试图将个人选择的结构参数纳入对赋予妇女权力的分析。
This paper begins from the understanding that women's empowerment is about the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability. A wide gap separates this processual understanding of empowerment from the more instrumentalist forms of advocacy which have required the measurement and quantification of empowerment. The ability to exercise choice incorporates three inter-related dimensions: resources (defined broadly to include not only access, but also future claims, to both material and human and social resources); agency (including processes of decision making, as well as less measurable manifestations of agency such as negotiation, deception and manipulation); and achievements (well-being outcomes). A number of studies of women's empowerment are analysed to make some important methodological points about the measurement of empowerment. The paper argues that these three dimensions of choice are indivisible in determining the meaning of an indicator and hence its validity as a measure of empowerment. The notion of choice is further qualified by referring to the conditions of choice, its content and consequences. These qualifications represent an attempt to incorporate the structural parameters of individual choice in the analysis of women's empowerment.