ABSTRACT
Gender and development advocates have placed women’s voice and agency at the heart of the struggle for gender equality, defining agency as the ability to recognize social injustices and to act/speak out against it. Women’s silence has often been associated with disempowerment and lack of agency. Yet silence can be more than simply coping; it can create a space for reflection, for healing and for rethinking one’s position, values and identity. Collective embodied silence has a power of its own and has been used by women and some men to challenge oppressive regimes and social injustice. Silence, as well as voice, is best seen as a tool for operating in our increasingly transnational world, where local gendered practices are often complicated, patriarchal and resilient. Silence can work with voice, not silence as the powerless “other,” but as another kind of power. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts in this book.
