From Resist to Privilege: Rising Psychological Empowerment and Gender Equality for Poverty Alleviation

Abstract

‘Poverty is well-being deprivation’, declares the World Bank. There is no clear, widely accepted definition of well-being, although the World Bank provides some clues, ‘to be impoverished would be to be starving, to lack shelter, to be unwell and uncared for, and to be illiterate and untutored’. Poor people are subject to uncontrollable situations and denied voice and influence. Psychological empowerment (PE) and gender equality are among the emphasised areas which need to be catered. ‘Psychological’ empowerment, abbreviated as ‘PE’, denotes empowerment at the specific intensity of analysis. It is a multidimensional concept derived from the integration of various dimensions determined by three realms: (a) personality, which includes self-attribution and internal locus of control, (b) cognitive, that contains self-efficacy perception, (c) motivational, which describes the interest in participating in the activity and control of the factors involved. PE shows that people believe their actions are manageable and controlled, that they are transitioning from a condition of learned helplessness to a state of logical hope and optimism. Gender equality is the equivalent involvement of males and females in utter facets of a lifetime. Women's civil rights activities affiliated with the rights movements worked to establish gender equality in place of an essential human right. In many nations, indicators such as the gender-linked development indicators, the gender break index and the gender fairness index provide measurements of complete gender equivalence.

This chapter discusses the positive impact of PE and gender equality on human well-being based on evidence.

Citation

M, D. and K, S. (2024), "From Resist to Privilege: Rising Psychological Empowerment and Gender Equality for Poverty Alleviation", Goel, R., Singh, T., Rahman, M.M., Islam, Q.T. and Baral, S.K. (Ed.) Understanding the Multi-Dimensional Nature of Poverty (Emerald Studies in Sustainable Approaches to Poverty Alleviation), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 189-212. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83753-292-620241010