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An analysis of the status of women depends on an understanding of gender relations in a specific context. Examining gender relations as power relations makes clear that these are sustained by the institutions within which gender relations occur. For women, absence of power results in the lack of access to and control over resources, a coercive gender division of labour, devaluation of their work, and a lack of control over their own labour, mobility as well as sexuality and fertility. Gender equality thus demands substantive transformation, a set of policies and conditions created by the state that facilitate the reallocation of resources, thereby increasing women`s control over resources that confer power at individual, household, and societal levels.
Transformation for gender equality envisages the empowerment of women, requiring conditions that enable women to exercise their autonomy; it also envisages a process of self-empowerment, in which women regain to re-examine their lives critically and collectively. While the former involves the facilitation of women`s access to and control over resources, the latter emphasizes women`s agency in seeking greater access and control.
ISBN 8189645080
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Pages : 274
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