Reconceptualising Women's Empowerment and Agency in Development: Perspectives from Local Women in Northern Ghana

Women's empowerment is widely recognised as a crucial aspect of sustainable development, particularly in developing and emerging economies. However, the conceptualisation and implementation of women's empowerment tend to be influenced by the perspectives of NGOs, donor agencies, and academics (referred to as upstream stakeholders). In this dominant arena, empowerment is measurable and framed within the dialectics of power as domination versus resistance. Yet, it has been critiqued for its inability to fully capture the realities and needs of women in Africa. This paper contributes to these critiques by exploring the interpretations of empowerment and agency by local women in Ghana's agricultural sector. Drawing on ethnographic research, the study reveals that local women challenge upstream notions of empowerment by utilising empowerment interventions to pursue culturally significant projects and agency pathways that contribute to their politico-economic and psychosocial well-being. For these women, empowerment extends beyond the enactment of power as heroinic acts of resistance to social structures. Rather, women's empowerment is socially constructed and valued within the pursuit of culturally constituted projects. Accordingly, women's agency and empowerment pathways reinforce patriarchal structures and ideals but in ways that paradoxically bring meaning to women's lives.