ABSTRACT
This chapter explores difficult and complex issues of empowerment and disempowerment in relation to the respective research projects on women's grassroots organizations in several states of India, including Rajasthan, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal. It presents some recurring themes in concerns: the problematics associated with "doing" empowerment on the ground at a time when "Southern" women's nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are becoming increasingly professionalized and globalized. They also include the entanglement of empowerment and disempowerment in poor women's lives; and the political complexities associated with engaging in critiques of NGOs that are trying to empower marginalized women. The chapter highlights the concerns and analysis of the contradictions and problematics embedded in the work of women's NGOs. It provides a conversation informed by several key debates that have evolved in India on the question of NGOs and their role in the current phase of globalization.
