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When policymakers and practitioners decide that 'empowerment'-usually of women or the poor-is a development goal what do they mean? And how do they determine the extent to which it has been achieved? Despite empowerment having become a widely used term in this context there is no accepted method...

In this paper, through a case study of a large international non‐governmental organisation, I identify a number of contradictions and tensions that arise when development agencies attempt to foster ‘women's empowerment’. Despite their presentation as apolitical, agencies are inescapably...