Gendered isolation, idealised communities and the role of collective power in West Bengal self-help groups

Abstract

Empowerment and power have long been fervently contested in feminist theory and geography. Much debate focuses on whether empowerment is mainly monetary or more holistic and emancipatory. In both cases, most of the literature centres on individual empowerment and internal ‘power within’. Much less attention, however, has been given to the idea of ‘power with’ and how friendship, solidarity and emotional connections are fundamental to empowerment and yet are highly vulnerable to outside influence. Drawing on field research from Self-Help Groups in West Bengal, this article highlights how the formation of ‘power with’ is particularly important in contexts of gendered isolation, where patriarchy is enacted through the spatial control of women and removal of women from the public sphere, illustrating that communities in the Global South are not necessarily sites of collective unity and cohesion. These findings contest both idealised notions of community and mainstream theories of power and empowerment and in turn, provide crucial insights for feminist geography and power theory.

Keywords:

• Collective
• empowerment
• gender and development
• India
• power
• self-help group

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank Dr Linda Bartolomei and Dr Caroline Lenette for their support and wisdom for this research project. I am also grateful for the comments from the four anonymous reviewers which substantially helped improve this article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Annabel Dulhunty

Dr Annabel Dulhunty focuses on intersectional feminism, human rights and women’s empowerment. Previous to her work in academia, Dr Dulhunty worked as a gender and community development specialist for over fifteen years with a variety of development and humanitarian non-governmental organisations. Dr Dulhunty has worked on gender and protection initiatives in a range of different contexts: across Africa, the Pacific, Latin America and South Asia. It is in South Asia, in particular, where Dr Dulhunty has developed a long-standing interest and where her recent research interests have focused.