Women's Empowerment and the Feminization of Poverty among

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I. INTRODUCTIONAttitudes about gender inequality in terms of female rights are evolving within societiesworldwide – including within inegalitarian structures that empower men to dominate womenaccording to gender-role ideologies:The power of customary constructions of de jure rights over recentlyintroduced legal ones also raises a question about processes of social changewhich has yet to be satisfactorily answered in the empowerment literature:How do attempts to change deeply entrenched structures, in this case, pittingthe law against rules legitimized by custom and religion, translate intochanges in individual agency and choice? (Kabeer, 1999: 444)While some women in developing regions have charged Western feminists with qualifying femalerights by cultural relativism, patriarchy and limiting women’s access to the public sphere isuniversal, though expressed differently across cultures. Therefore, movement toward globalwomen’s empowerment requires academics and practitioners in gender and development (GAD) tofind common pains, values, challenges and goals (Billson and Fleuhr-Lobban, 2005: 399).This study analyzes the Kingdom of Morocco as a functioning inegalitarian societyattempting to progress toward women’s empowerment and isolates a traditional town within it todemonstrate how, in the context of social change, to best address the link of women’s empowermentwith gendered poverty. Morocco’s experience of urbanization after independence from Frenchcolonial rule in 1956 changed societal norms and resulted in liberal cities and conservative ruralareas (Dwyer, 1978: 120). Thus, the case study is set in a large town located in the rural southwhich lacks a dramatic shift in economic priorities toward international markets, unlike its urbancounterparts in northern Morocco: “Thus, the city of Taroudannt displays a less radical dislocationof style, goals and images from the past than have certain other regions of Morocco” (Ibid.: 8).Ultimately, the following study emphasizes the need for gendered poverty literature toconceptualize a holistic framework “to encapsulate gendered privation – encompassing capabilities,livelihoods, subjectivities and social exclusion” (Chant, 2006: 203). This includes less generalizedassumptions; therefore, the focus is on one highly heterogeneous group of women – female-headedhouseholds. Lessening the precedented emphasis on quantitative dimensions of income allows for aholistic step toward qualitative dimensions of choices and options. Incorporating the disciplines ofpolitical science, anthropology, sociology, economics, history, and law, this study contributes to theGAD discourse, which “exposes structural, asymmetrical power relations between the sexes, anddoes not regard economic growth as a prerequisite for improving women’s living conditions,”instead highlighting qualitative, power-related legal and social obstacles to women’s empowerment1
(Johnsson-Latham, 2010: 41). This opposes the other gendered poverty school of thought – thedominant discourse of economic growth and quantitative measurements – which ignores themultidimensionality of gender disadvantage (Ibid.).Morocco provides a contemporary context of social transformation from legal, socioeconomicand cultural inequalities; however, to have explanatory reach in GAD, this studyincorporates participatory tools. These have been regarded as invaluable in assessing the genderdimensions of poverty as they include women’s voices, a “potentially important step towardenhancing the gender-responsiveness of poverty assessment” (Chant, 2007: 59). The contextualapproach to the Moroccan situation of female-headed households complemented by participatoryresearch from a particular rural community seeks: to conceptually examine the validity of thefeminization of poverty theory; to empirically explore the nature of women’s empowerment amongfemale-headed households from a gender perspective; and to present implications of the nature ofinequality experienced within wider society in legal, socio-economic and cultural terms. Theaddition of participatory research – inclusive of varying life stages, marital arrangements,education, employment, social networks, and self-confidence – illustrates the need for subjectiveand culturally specific data.The following literature review discusses concepts of women’s empowerment, feminizationof poverty theory, female-headed households, and the linkages between all of these in the currentGAD discourse. It challenges the feminization of poverty theory for having simplified notions ofboth poverty and gender and glossing over major gender-power issues in feminized poverty bothwithin and beyond household-level (Chant, 2010: 3). The methodology chapter then explains thepresent study’s approach to analysis of the legal, socio-economic and cultural realms of Morocco,specifically the participatory research in a women’s group in Taroudannt. The next chapter situatesthe case study in the Moroccan legal, socio-economic and cultural experience. The case study ofTaroudannt follows to apply qualitative data to the discussed concepts of women’s empowerment,feminization of poverty and female-headed households. Finally, this study concludes with a briefconjecture of the research implications.2
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 and 36: Dwyer’s observation that “a str
Page 37 and 38: Social networksSocial networks can
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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