This paper evaluates the measurement of womens empowerment in the context of three interrelated dimensions: resources agency and achievements. Several studies are analyzed to stress important methodological points. Resources is here understood to refer not only to material resources but also to the various human and social resources which enhance the ability to exercise choice. Individual and structural change are interdependent in processes of empowerment. The idea of choice must be qualified so that it incorporates the structural dimensions of individual choice according to two criteria: the criterion of alternatives relates to the structural conditions under which choices are made while the criterion of consequences relates to the extent to which choices made have the potential for transforming structural conditions. By definition indicators of empowerment cannot provide an accurate measurement of changes in womens ability to make choices; they can merely indicate the direction and meaning of change. Finally there are problems in measurement and conceptualization associated with capturing particular kinds of social change. Thus giving women access to credit creating constitutional provisions for political participation or equalizing educational opportunities is unlikely to empower them automatically; instead it will create a vantage point from which to view alternatives; this in turn constitutes the precondition for the establishment of a more transformatory consciousness.

Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment

Introduction Part I. Theory of Collective Action: 1. The construction of collective action 2. Conflict and change 3. Action and meaning 4. The process of collective identity Part II. Contemporary Collective Action: 5. conflicts of culture 6. Invention of the present 7. The time of difference 8. Roots for today and for tomorrow 9. A search for ethics 10. Information, power, domination Part III. The Field of Collective Action: 11. A society without a centre 12. The political system 13. The state and the distribution of social resources 14. Modernization, crisis, and conflict: the case of Italy Part IV. Acting Collectively: 15. Mobilization and political participation 16. The organization of movements 17. Leadership in social movements 18. Collective action and discourse 19. Forms of action 20. Research on collective action.

Challenging Codes: Collective Action in the Information Age@@@The Playing Self: Person and Meaning in the Planetary Society

Highlighting the problems posed by a ''unitary'' conceptualization of the household, a number of economists have in recent years proposed alternative models. These models, especially those embodying the bargaining approach, provide a useful framework for analyzing gender relations and throwing some light on how gender asymmetries are constructed and contested. At the same time, the models have paid inadequate or no attention to some critical aspects of intra-household gender dynamics, such as: What factors (especially qualitative ones) affect bargaining power? What is the role of social norms and social perceptions in the bargaining process and how might these factors themselves be bargained over? Are women less motivated than men by self-interest and might this affect bargaining outcomes? Most discussions on bargaining also say little about gender relations beyond the household, and about the links between extra-household and intra-household bargaining power. This paper spells out the nature of these com...

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''Bargaining'' and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household

The Limits to Capital

Poverty in the United Kingdom

Reviewed by Jo Beall, a lecturer in social policy and planning in developing countries, London School of Economics and Political Studies, University of London

Reversed realities: gender hierarchies in development thought

Part 1: Ways of Understanding Divided Cities - Introduction to a Divided City * Reverberations from a Divided City * Part 2: The Changing Spatial Structure of the City - Beyond Racial Fordism: Changing Patterns of Social Inequality * Post-Fordist Polarization: The Changing Spatial Order of the City * Part 3: Institutional Responses to Urban Change - Decentralization by Stealth: Democratization or Disempowerment through Developmental Local Government? * the Politics of Fiscal Austerity in Creating Equitable City Government * Part 4: Living in a Divided City - the Inner-city Challenge: Locating Partners for Urban Regeneration * Participatory Planning and Informal Settlement Upgrading in Diepsloot * Housing and Service Consumption in Soweto * the People Behind the Walls: Insecurity, Identity and gated Communities * Conclusion: Lessons from a Uniting City * Notes * References * Index

Uniting a Divided City: Governance and Social Exclusion in Johannesburg

This paper considers the contradictory roles demanded of city governments as they seek to keep their cities competitive in an increasingly globalized world economy while also having increasing resp

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Globalization and social exclusion in cities: framing the debate with lessons from Africa and Asia

For the first time in human history more people now live and towns and cities than in rural areas. In the wealthier countries of the world, the transition from predominantly rural to urban habitation is more or less complete. But in many parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America, urban populations are expanding rapidly. Current UN projections indicate that virtually all population growth in the world over the next 30 years will be absorbed by towns and cities in developing countries. These simple demographic facts have profound implications for those concerned with understanding and addressing the pressing global development challenges of reducing poverty, promoting economic growth, improving human security and confronting environmental change.
This revised and expanded second edition of Cities and Development explores the dynamic relationship between urbanism and development from a global perspective. The book surveys a wide range of topics, including: the historical origins of world urbanization; the role cities play in the process of economic development; the nature of urban poverty and the challenge of promoting sustainable livelihoods; the complexities of managing urban land, housing, infrastructure and urban services; and the spectres of endemic crime, conflict and violence in urban areas. This updated volume also contains two entirely new chapters: one that examines the links between urbanisation and environmental change, and a second that focuses on urban governance and politics. 
Adopting a multidisciplinary perspective, the book critically engages with debates in urban studies, geography and international development studies. Each chapter includes supplements in the form of case studies, chapter summaries, questions for discussion and suggested further readings. The book is targeted at upper-level undergraduate and graduate students interested in geography, urban studies and international development studies, as well as policy makers, urban planners and development practitioners.

Cities and Development

Both decentralization and ‘civic engagement’ are key concerns in current debates on solid waste management (SWM). This paper examines two different examples of community involvement in solid waste management, in Bangalore, India, and in Faislabad, Pakistan. It shows that expectations based in the concept of social capital are wanting because of the way in which it obscures problems having to do with local power structures. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Jo Beall

Papers

Reversed realities: gender hierarchies in development thought

Uniting a Divided City: Governance and Social Exclusion in Johannesburg

Globalization and social exclusion in cities: framing the debate with lessons from Africa and Asia

Cities and Development

POLICY ARENA: Social capital in waste—a solid investment?