Stir Issue 20, Winter 2018 International Co-op Development and Women’s Empowerment by Amanda Benson Illustration by Matthew Carey Simos Through its Sustainable Development Goals (sdgs), the UN recognises that while women and girls have globally benefited from increased gender equality, their potential is still undermined by a persistent inequality that holds back social progress. The fifth goal – achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls – strongly resonates with the Values and Principles of the co-operative movement in its aim to promote “representation in political and economic decision-making processes” that “will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large.” The Co-operative College, an educational charity founded in 1919, has worked in international development for the past 15 years and over that time has seen the important role that co-operatives play in creating sustainable, fair, and equitable communities. The College’s work is underpinned by the belief that organising through co-operatives helps people to activate self-help strategies that create opportunities, extend protection and security, and facilitate empowerment. Much of the College’s work in the Global South has a strong focus on empowering women farmers and training communities in a range of skills to set up and run successful co-operative enterprises. A recent report by the College, Good Practices in International Co-operative Development, found that women’s empowerment is a key focus of international co-operative development across a range of EU-based organisations working in the Global South. By predominantly focusing on initiatives that tackle gender imbalances in both public and private lives, the co-operative movement has established itself as a strong advocate for inclusion and empowerment. Empowerment is a subjective term, though, and it can be difficult to pin down. It is also an expression that is often misused by projects claiming to be ‘empowering’ people, but offer no evidence of how people have meaningfully played a role in deciding which aspects of their lives should be improved. Our definition is based on Nanette Page and Cheryl E. Czuba’s 1999 research article, Empowerment: what is it?, where they describe a “process that fosters power in people, for use in their own lives, their communities, and in their society, by acting on issues that they define as important.” What we specifically mean by women’s empowerment is supporting women to make decisions and take control of aspects of their lives where they had previously been denied the opportunity. What is important in both definitions is that empowerment is not something that can be imposed on people, it is something that originates in their choices around what they perceive to be important. In many countries in the Global South, women are often the poorest and most marginalised group, lacking the agency to move beyond basic subsistence-level farming. In my previous research in both West Africa and India, I found that in many southern countries, the predominant view is that women’s primary role is to provide household food security, and that agricultural production can provide an important source of income to women who lack the education and skills to find formal employment. However, women farmers are often faced with a number of constraints, if it’s a lack of formal education, legal issues with land inheritance rights, or cultural attitudes that prevent them from participating in household decision-making. All of these challenges limit their access to the means of production. As agriculture provides the main employment for women throughout most of the Global South, especially in rural areas, it is important to give women the opportunity to work collectively, giving them more Amanda Benson works as Projects and Research Coordinator at the Co-operative College, an educational charity founded in 1919 serving the co-operative sector in the UK and globally. Her research and practice background is in UK community development work and international co-op development work, sustainable agriculture and gender issues. co-op.ac.uk 27