An Empirical Examination of Women’s Empowerment and Transformative Change in the Context of International Development

This paper responds to calls from social scientists in the area of globalization and women’s empowerment to test a model that
investigates both structural and individual components of women’s empowerment in the context of globalization. The investigation
uses a liberation psychology framework by taking into account the effects of globalization, human rights discourse, and women’s
activism within social movements to identify how structural inequities may be related to empowerment. Surveys conducted in
rural Nicaragua revealed that land ownership and organizational participation among women were related to more progressive
gender ideology, and in turn, women’s power and control within the marital relationship, individual levels of agency, and
subjective well-being. The study demonstrates that psychology can bridge the theoretical arguments surrounding human rights
with the practical implementation of development interventions, and provide empirical support that has yet to be demonstrated
elsewhere. The findings have important implications for strategies and interventions that can improve conditions for women
and contribute to the aims of social justice articulated in the Beijing Platform for Action.