Contextualizing women’s empowerment frameworks with an emphasis on social support: a study in rural, South India

ABSTRACT This paper presents a theoretical framework of women’s empowerment developed from an intervention in South India. The framework is unique in that, in addition to common empowerment indicators, it emphasizes the relational aspect of empowerment including the role of men, family, and gendered power structures—and the flexibility of these to change. This is especially pertinent to India, which has struggled to meet global targets for indicators of improved gender equality. The mixed-methods study found evidence that women who felt they had more support from their husbands and family also had more success in the project, and that family support was an overall indicator for empowerment. This paper’s contribution is in reframing women’s empowerment to better represent the often overlooked structural factors that could intrinsically resist or counter the establishment of new states of social equality and stability, specifically the integral role of men and the wider family in the women’s empowerment process.