Empowerment of Women and Pathways to Development in the SAT of India : Insights from Gender-based Social Analysis

Abstract

This paper highlights the dynamics and pathways of development of rural women and men in the semi-arid tropics (SAT) of India. It chronicles a series of studies undertaken at ICRISAT which aimed at understanding the gender perspectives in agricultural research, inclusive of gender concerns for empowering men and women in the marginalized and vulnerable regions of SAT. The �ndings from the case studies show that empowering rural women (in particular) point towards recognizing the power of individuals (agency), enhancing their skills to change the context in which they live and thereby bringing about equitable and sustainable change and development. The distinctive view of empowerment in this study encompasses networks of relationships which help bring about change and improvement in the physical, economic, socio-cultural and political well-being of women (particularly formal and informal social networks). A sequential analysis is implemented using a series of related case studies conducted over a period of almost two decades (1992 to 2011) and complemented by analysis harnessing the VLS longitudinal household panel data. For example, how does technology uptake lead to empowerment particularly for marginalized groups including women and tribals? What stimulates gender-equitable change?