Women's Empowerment - A discourse analysis of the women's empowerment concept in UN Women

Sammanfattning: The concept of women’s empowerment is subject to much debate within the development field. This thesis seeks to uncover the meaning of the concept by examining the prevailing discourse of women’s empowerment within UN Women. Several historical and contemporary theorists within the empowerment debate, such as Naila Kabeer, Srilatha Batliwala and Amartya Sen, are touched upon and applied in the analysis together with a critical theoretical view from postcolonialism, building on thoughts of Ania Loomba and Chandra Talpade Mohanty. The use of a methodological approach emerging from poststructuralism has enabled a discourse analysis of the women’s empowerment concept, applying discourse analysis theory elaborated by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. By applying their key elements as tools in the analysis, the meaning behind the prevailing discourse is revealed. The discourse analysis has been conducted on representable documents published by UN Women; their earliest annual report after their first full year of work published in 2012, and their annual report published in 2016, right in the division of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era of work and in the beginning of the new strategy with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The somewhat unexpected findings indicate signs of the beginning of a turn in the definition of empowerment, going back towards a more historical meaning concerning social norms and self-worth, after a period of heavy focus on economic growth and individuality.