ABSTRACT
It is nearly customary by now to begin a conceptual article on empowerment by lamenting how
confused the concept has become over the last decade. Keleher has shown, for instance, how the
meaning of ‘empowerment’ for economic-growth conceptions of development diverges from its
meaning for the capability approach (2007, 2008). But confusion about the meaning of ‘empow-
erment’ is evident even within the human development approach. In Human Development
Report 2000, Human Rights and Human Development (UNDP 2000) one encounters ‘empower-
ing’ everywhere, but with various meanings and no discussion of what they have in common. In
the chapter titled ‘Rights Empowering People in the Fight Against Poverty’, ‘empower’ is used
as a synonym either for ‘enable’ or for ‘enable and motivate’. Other uses are more specific: the
Gender Empowerment Measure, for instance, pertains to ‘whether women are able to actively
participate in social and economic life’ (18).1
