The impact of multicultural festivals on women's empowerment in Uppsala : A case of immigrant women

Abstract: Empowerment is a process or a mechanism of individuals, organizations and communitiesacquiring control over their lives (Rappaport (1987), and there is a sustained effort by nationsand the international communities across the globe in search of pragmatic agendas and policyframework in achieving women’s empowerment. The purpose of this study was to understandthe experiences of immigrant women who participate in multicultural festivals, and how suchexperiences impact their empowerment. Guided by the ladder of empowerment theory byElizabeth Rocha in 1997, a phenomenological qualitative study was conducted with fifteenimmigrant women residents in Uppsala, and with heterogeneous description, the women weremainly from west African, South American and the European sub-regions.Drawing on the interviews, exposure to different cultures, making friends and interactingwith people from different cultural origins, opportunity to have fun, happiness and socialnetworking were the sailing experiences revealed by the study. While the women are able toachieve the first three levels – atomistic, embedded and mediated empowerments – ofindividual empowerments as espoused by Rocha (1997), the study further showsSocio-political and Political empowerment were not felt by the women, though theirgroupings into groups and organizations could influence decisions, legislations andprogrammes underlying the celebration of multicultural festivals in the Uppsala municipality.