What makes change happen in women’s lives?
Photo/Kwabena Danso
Pathways of Women’s Empowerment is an international research and communications programme established in 2006 which links academics with activists and practitioners to find out what works to enhance women’s empowerment. We are identifying where women are achieving real gains and discovering the positive and negative factors which have influenced their journey. Pathways has been funded by UKAid from the Department for International Development and has received additional financing from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that enabled the programme to expand to include countries in conflict, post-conflict and crisis situations.
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Women's Rights Organizations and Funding Regimes in Ghana
The report from the Ghanaian country study of the Mobilising for Women's Rights: The Role of Resources project has just been published. Key findings from the study suggest that securing adequate resources for women's rights work in Ghana remains a challenge. Download the report at the Rights and Resources webpage
Pathways @ AWID Forum 2012
For a list of sessions and events in which Pathways were involved at the AWID Forum see News and Events. New: Twitter write up of the Power of Pleasure session. See also Alison Carney's post for the Participation, Power and Social Change Team Blog on Generations of Feminism - A Reflection from AWID
Bertha Lutz Award
Professor Ana Alice Costa from the Pathways Latin America Hub received the Bertha Lutz Diploma, a Brazilian Senate award given to outstanding women alongside President Dilma Roussef. See News and Events for more
Egypt: Will there be a Place for Women's Human Rights?
In this article for Open Democracy, Hania Sholkamy asks whether the Muslim Sisters will show their support in the struggle over women's human rights and gender justice in Egypt? See Open Democracy 50:50
International Women's Day
On International Women's Day, Andrea Cornwall, Pathways Director, calls for a for a pleasure-based approach to development - one that reverses the instrumentalism of development approaches to pay more attention to enabling women to have happier, more enjoyable and pleasurable lives. See IDS News
Women's Political Empowerment needs more than Quotas
For this Guardian Blog, Mariz Tadros cites Pathways' research which demonstrates that quotas are not a magic bullet, and suggests if we are serious about promoting gender justice, we should start by better understanding how women get involved in politics... more
Three Things the Crisis (should have) Taught us about Women's Empowerment
IDS Participation, Power and Social Change Team blog from Naomi Hossain
Motorways to Nowhere?
In this blog for The Guardian Poverty Matters, Andrea Cornwall suggests that the recent trend of development agencies to focus on the empowerment of women and girls as a 'sought-after panacea' without challenging structural inequities, risks being 'empowerment-lite'; and not achieving real and sustained change for women. See more
Just Do Women's Empowerment
Naomi Hossain highlights two very interesting facts that War on Want missed out in their study of the exploitation of Bangladeshi garments workers by Adidas, Nike and Puma. See her blog for the IDS Participation, Power and Social Change Team
Andrea Cornwall: Sussex Development Lecture
In a recent Sussex Development Lecture, Andrea Cornwall presented findings from the Pathways programme, listen to the seminar at IDS News
Empowering Women and Girls: What Works?
Pathways recently held two events in London to mark both the launch of our synthesis report 'Empowerment: A Journey not a Destination' and the transition from a consortium to a network. See Pathways News to read more...
In this Picture there are No Women!
The remarkable revelation of the Egyptian revolution concerns women. It turns out that the women of Egypt are at the heart of our politics. Since January 2011 a new wave of recognition for women’s political leadership and dynamism has swept the country...On the first anniversary of the revolution Hania Sholkamy reflects on the political status of women in Egypt
Empowerment: A Journey not a Destination
We are pleased to announce the launch of 'Empowerment: A Journey not a Destination'. This Pathways synthesis report presents the findings and key messages from our research from 59 projects in 15 countries over 5 years.
We will be officially marking the launch of the report with both a day-long conference to be held at SOAS on 13 January and an evening event at the House of Commons on 17 January.
To read the report see Empowerment: A Journey not a Destination. For more information on the events see DFID Research for Development and IDS News
Pathways Policy Papers
To accompany our synthesis report 'Empowerment: A Journey not a Destination', we have produced a series of policy papers which provide deeper analysis of some of the issues we have researched and present key messages.
Women Engaging Politically: Beyond Magic Bullets and Motorways, by Mariz Tadros, looks at women's political participation and presents case studies from Brazil, Costa Rica, Pakistan, Sudan, India, Sierra Leone, Bangladesh and Ghana
How can Social Protection provide Social Justice for Women?, by Hania Sholkamy, focuses on the experience of the Conditional Cash Transfer pilot scheme in Egypt
Sexuality and Empowerment: An Intimate Connection, by Kate Hawkins, Andrea Cornwall and Tessa Lewin, demonstrates why sexuality is so important for women’s empowerment
Contextualising the Economic Pathways of Women's Empowerment, by Naila Kabeer, examines the findings from multi-country survey work into women's economic empowerment
What makes Domestic Violence Legislation more effective?, by Cecilia Sardenberg, draws primarily on the experiences of the implementation of the Brazilian Maria da Penha Law
Supporting Pathways of Women's Empowerment: A Brief Guide for International Development Organisations, by Rosalind Eyben looks at what empowerment means and how best to support it
“Across the globe women seem to rise above the most challenging circumstances” but we are less clear “about the pathways to empowerment” Professor Takyiwaa Manuh
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