Placing Gender Equity in the Family Centre Stage

Empowerment does not necessarily take place when incomes are generated or when livelihoods are enhanced or for that matter when groups are formed. Social capital empowers people undoubtedly. However, the scope of that empowerment is limited. This is because within families and households, hierarchies and structures do not alter. Hence changes in public areas with respect to new formations of social capital or new avenues of income generation, especially when they are directed to and through women, even contribute towards accentuating tensions within households. It is at such times that supplementary interventions, which open the household for question, are required.