Both the terms “gender” and “empowerment” have created great controversy and heated debate in our midst — mainly because many within our society think them to be the fabrication of a western conspiracy set to strip us of our Islamic culture and heritage. Unfortunately, because this limited interpretation has steadily created a cultural divide between different segments of our society, I feel it is necessary for me to present a short description of the background from which these two concepts evolved.

The need for women’s empowerment strategies and gender mainstreaming tactics is the result of a pressing need. Research has shown that women across the globe are exploited, discriminated against and marginalized. In fact, World Bank studies reveal that even though women put in nearly two-thirds of the total work-hours of the global work force, they only receive one-tenth of the world’s income and own less than one hundredth of the world’s property.

In face of this gross inequity, the international community has taken it upon itself to design a global strategy to leverage the distribution of responsibility and resources. It was during the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995, that the need to empower women — through gender mainstreaming methods — came to existence.

The objective of this ambitious empowerment strategy was to enable women to have access to information, networks, financial and legal resources that are readily available to men, so that marginalized women can achieve autonomy, self-reliance, financial independence and equal opportunity. As such, “empowerment” strategies focused on expanding the assets and capabilities of poor people so they could participate in, negotiate with, influence, control, and hold accountable institutions that affect their lives. Broadly speaking however, it aims to increase one’s authority and control over the resources and decisions that affect one’s life.

Poor people’s choices are extremely limited, both by their lack of assets and by their powerlessness to negotiate better terms for themselves with a range of institutions. Empowerment and gender mainstreaming strategies are essential to help them create a life of dignity in accordance with their values.

“Gender” on the other hand, is a term that refers to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male and female, and the relationships between women and men and girls and boys. These attributes are socially constructed and are learned through the socialization processes that take place within specific cultures. They determine what is expected, allowed and valued in a woman or a man in a given context.

Interestingly enough, both these terms are not exclusively related to women’s specific needs and concerns. They could include initiatives to empower men when and as required — provided that all the initiatives promote equal opportunity between men and women to utilize their skills and to participate in decisions affecting their lives.

In conclusion, I would like those who delve in conspiracy theories to remember that as a nation, our strength lies more in our ability to unite in the path of progress and development by means of empowering the marginalized — whether they are women, or men or those of special needs — rather than on our ability to engage in the divisive debate on semantics and ideological constructs.