CIAO DATE: 12/2011
October 2011
The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Development literature overwhelmingly argues in favor of formal property ownership (titling)as a practical intervention for poor women’s empowerment and to address urban poverty. In this body of literature empowerment is equated with financial, social and political gains but it lacks a rigorous definition. Luke’s three-dimensional power framework provides a methodology for critical assessment of empowerment. The chapter structures Luke’s analysis around a case study from a center city slum in Recife, Brazil. Ultimately the chapter demonstrates how a critical definition of empowerment can move thinking and practice towards re-engineering titling process for gender equity in urban land markets.
Resource link: Land Titling as Women's Empowerment: Critical Observations from Recife Brazil [PDF] - 52K