A Sweet Deal? : A qualitative study regarding the process of empowerment for women who take part in an income generation program in South Lombok, Indonesia

Abstract: Indonesia signed CEDAW 1980 and ratified it in 1984 making it one of the first countries in South East Asia to do so. Despite legislation and governmental efforts women are still discriminated against in areas such as access to education, resources and credit. Income generation and women´s empowerment have been recognized on an international level as important strategies to enhance gender equality and in the process of alleviating poverty. By using the method of the focus group interview this study examines the process of empowerment for a group of women who take part in an income generation program in South Lombok, organized by a local NGO which uses the CAF methodology of self funded communities. Using Jo Rowlands (1997) empowerment model to analyze the collected data the study identifies encouraging and inhibiting factors to the empowerment process and the changes the process have generated. The study finds that the income generation program provides an important motivation for the women to join and the women experience some empowering impacts due to access to resources. However, it is the educational aspects of the program as well as the social support system that the self-help groups provide that contain the most empowering elements.