Random routes to 'empowerment'...

So, today I went and watched a movie on my own. Now this maybe normal for some, but I'd never done it before, so there was some apprehension of course...even if the act itself was miniscule when compared to something like, errr, the feeding of a cat? :). Either way, I will recount simply because I know this is one I'll remember.

It started out with me performing a horrid parking job (as usual) with the back right wheel of the car in a gravelly ditch, but who cared at that moment...I was late for the movie! I ran in and asked the blonde, bespectacled lady in the red and white uniform if the movie was sold out. She said there were only 16 seats left and that it would be crowded. (At this moment I performed an invisible rolling of my eyes...going, woman, I'm from INDIA, and just spent a summer travelling on buses where every inch of my body was touching sweaty Sri Lankan ones {at this point, you are allowed to be grossed out :D})

Okay, sorry I digress. So I said 16 was fine, can you give me one ticket. And then...it came, she said "Just one?!?!?!?!" Well that was an exaggeration. But she surely felt all that punctuation in her head...but being a well-trained-customer-serving-red-uniformed lady, she kept it to herself. Just as I had kept my eye-rollings to myself. Now since I was slightly embarrassed, I would have liked to tell her that I do have friends, and one had come over visited twice since the movie's release to watch it with me, and that both times it was sold out. But I figured she didnt really care to hear my insecurity stemming justifications :).

So I ran in, sat one seat over from a lovey-dovey couple, thought for a few moments of happier moments of the self, and then...got lost in the movie. Which was pretty good, I liked it. And then after I decided not to sneak into another theatre to illegally watch a second movie on one ticket, I skipped out into the fresh wind.

I felt pretty good about myself at that moment. It was an self-empowering moment for sure. I felt so good, I actually managed to extricate the poor car from the ditch without hitting anybody else's bumpers.

This alraqs-story got me thinking about 'empowerment'. I've always had random moments of empowerment, and trust me, they are not always a result of movie watching alone :). But the point is, empowerment is a very personal thing, I feel it when I do, not necessarily when someone else does.

In the development world, there are scores of debates on 'empowerment' 'women's empowerment' and so on and so forth. (Yes, every once in a while, I do work on my thesis). Most development projects, especially the participatory ones, have the ulimate goal of 'empowerment of the people'.

And that is accomplished by the projects through the use of implementation tool-kits. They tell you how to encourage people to participate, to encourage them speak up, how to mobilize people, to give participants decision making power, to increase bargaining powers, to support women in their needs, and etc.

I have nothing against these implementation paradigms, they work great, and it's wonderful when a project has really brought the best out in an ordinarily supremely shy 21 year-old woman in an unmapped village, for example.

But that doesnt take away from the fact that empowerment is different for everybody based on personal limitations--natural and environmental. In that case, cookie-cutter approaches just dont cut it.

This directly translates into the fact that for instance, 'empowerment' as defined by a donor is not what 'the people' really want or care for. I remember Ramani Akka from my summer travels who was 'super-empowered' according to all measures of 'empowerment', and whose family hated the fact. They hated that she wandered around canvassing for change, attending meetings, having loads of friends...instead of staying in and doing housework.

And this situation isnt only restricted to some unheard of village in a tropical country. In hi-fi worlds, accepted defintions of 'empowerment' arent appreciated by all. Think investment banker mother who is looked down upon if she doesnt pick up her kids from school.

Now, of course, stereotypes exist, but nevertheless, it homes in that 'empowerment' is so personal, so nuanced, and so varied. This also explains why Third-World feminists oppose some tenets of Western feminism, and other things like that.

I think 'empowerment' is great, its wonderful, its releasing. Its much, much more than just independence. I mean it contains the 'power' word, it must be great, right :).

On a professional level, I hope donor project design incorporates more of these subtelties and nuances. On a spiritual (?) level I just hope...and maybe this is another one of my ardent non-realistic hopes...but I hope that people find out what makes them feel empowered, and then that they are able to shoot for it.

And on a personal level, maybe this indicates I need to invest more in the movie watching alone business :).