SERICUL TURE AND THE PROCESS OF CHANGE - Institute for ...

characteristics of the power processes is an on-gomg negotiation, m
which resources figure significantly'. In the context of gender autonomy,
Mencher (1989: 118), borrows from Leacock (1978:247), to define
autonomy as 'the extent to which women hold decision making power
over their o\\'n lives and activities' comparable to the power men hold
over their lives.
Thus, authority basically implies the power to control resources
and allocate the same at will and thereby deprive the autonomy of the
others to be at their will. Authority is a relative concept. It implies two
dimensions, reflecting the stand-points of the powerful and the
powerless. The one relates to the extent of control, the dominant
exercises over the dominated. The other is related to the extent of
freedom the subservient enjoys. The extreme of control and total
deprivation of freedom would be the result of a concentrated authority.
The more one is able to partake in the control of the resources, the
greater would be the devolution of power, which would consequently
result in distributive authority.
This process of transition never occurs automatically nor
voluntarily. It occurs only when it is accompanied by certain other
processes that relate to the dominated. In the context of family, the
members should undergo first a process of self-realisation about the
individual's productive contribution that forms part of the collective
resources of the family. This realisation is easily achieved when the
contribution is economic and visible. Such a self-realisation instills a
self-confidence in them, which is essential in the process of selfassertion.
Once this is complete, the so-far subjected individual begins to
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