Women's Empowerment and the Feminization of Poverty among

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EmploymentHalf of the sample have had a lifetime exposure to employment, which Kabeer cites asanother source of empowerment (1999: 448). These three women worked before marriage as younggirls cleaning other houses. One of the widowed women returned to this work when her husbanddied and she assumed financial headship. However, one of the married women never stoppedworking, simply switched occupations to farm-work and added child-rearing responsibilities. Thischallenges the assumption of the feminization of poverty as a process of women becoming poorerthan men.When prompted for their opinions of appropriate employment for women, all theparticipants expressed respect for women who clean for other families or for organizations. Theyexpressed hardship – again unsurprisingly – for women to work on farms or in public, especially atnight. While Dwyer cited in 1978 that Roudaniyin did not allow women to take full-time jobs unlessthey had no sons, fathers or husbands, my current research [see graph below] shows that nowwomen in Taroudannt find stable jobs respectable for themselves and other women – financialautonomy as a source of empowerment (Dwyer, 1978: 111; Kabeer, 1999: 448). Every womancontributed stable work as the most pressing identified need to improving their situations due tohousehold needs being too expensive for one person to manage, without implying that employmentis solely a man’s responsibility. One married woman expressed her lack of agency to change her lifedue to neither her nor her husband having a stable job. Furthermore, the married non-head gave thesuggestion that she could get another job for the mornings as currently she only works in theafternoons. By this, she meant that she volunteers her afternoons at the Taroudannt hospital alongwith one of the widowed participants – an interesting example of agency shared by both a non-headand head of household.2Means of Support of Female-Headed HouseholdsNumber of women10Married Widowed Married Non-HeadCleaning Farm work Sewing Husband (shared) Family & friends33
Social networksSocial networks can also be a source of empowerment for female-headed households againstthe feminization of poverty theory as a process of women becoming poorer than men. As Davidsand Driel assert, the assumption that female-headed households are poorer financially excludeswhether they are poorer emotionally or socially (2010: 107). The participants shared theirexperiences moving to Taroudannt, with the widows additionally explaining how they adapted totheir new status. The graph below shows how the widowed women benefit from multiple sources ofsupport within the local community whereas the married non-head relies solely on her family.Social networks can be a means of negotiating survival as well as an agency of empowerment. Forexample, one of the widows only had an aunt in Taroudannt when she moved from a mountainvillage; however, she found a neighbor who she said considers her like a sister and helped hersurvive her husband’s death.Family Neighbors Centre Afak Friends - “Roudaniyin”2Social Network of Female-Headed HouseholdsNumber of women1Married Widowed Married Non-HeadIn a separate focus group, all of us created together a ranking chart of the top five things wevalue in our daily lives – ‘religion’ first with 29 points to ‘children’ with 21. From her experience ofworking with this women’s group, the current facilitator explained that Islam serves as a means ofcourage for the women to get through the difficult situations in their lives, explaining that “they can34
Page 4 and 5: I. INTRODUCTIONAttitudes about gend
Page 6: II. ANALYSIS OF EXISTING LITERATURE
Page 9 and 10: In recognition of the importance of
Page 11 and 12: women’s empowerment, the feminiza
Page 13 and 14: “Although women are often victims
Page 15 and 16: III. METHODOLOGYThis chapter begins
Page 17 and 18: Phase IOf the four phases of my pri
Page 19 and 20: acutely aware of the limitations of
Page 21 and 22: Despite the very recent historical
Page 23 and 24: (Ibid.: 716). In sum, de jure Mouda
Page 25 and 26: change which requires a period of a
Page 27 and 28: Cultural situationAnalyzing Morocca
Page 29 and 30: defiance of tradition, and society
Page 31 and 32: there is faith in the city’s life
Page 33 and 34: originally from Agadir, Ouled Berhi
Page 35: Dwyer’s observation that “a str
Page 39 and 40: dimension. When asked to identify h
Page 41 and 42: VI. CONCLUSIONThe participatory res
Page 43: BIBLIOGRAPHYAbiad, N. (2008) Sharia
Page 46 and 47: McIlwaine, C. (2012c) “Women’s
Page 48 and 49: InterviewsEch Chenna, Aicha, Presid
Page 50: Appendix B - Focus groupAimTo find

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