Empowerment
Shaping the Future of Feminist Psychology:
Education, Research, and Practice.
by Judith Worell and Norine G. Johnson (1997). APA.
A. Introduction
  1. This book is the collective outcome of the first National Conference on Education and Training in Feminist Practice, held at Boston College on July 8-11, 1993. The need for such a conference emerged from our increasing awareness that most undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral programs in psychology provide little, if any, attention to the many issues related to gender and the lives of women.
B. Women's Empowerment (99-100)
  1. "Women need empowering skills because they have been oppressed for centuries.
  2. "Antidomination training, which helps women identify oppressive tactics and respond effectively, should be explicit. . .
  3. "Critical skills for promoting women's empowerment include
    a. oral and written communication skills, which enable women to articulate their concerns and help others understand and empathize with their points of view
    b. leadership, group processes, and organizational skills, including skills that enable women and men to identify and intervene in chilly or hostile climates and resolve disputes.
    c. the ability to use information technology to access Internet resources, which is increasingly important source of information and influence to promote collective action.
  4. "Classroom discussions about rape, violence, and other aspects of discrimination and oppression can produce intense personal reactions ranging from "paralyzing fury" to tears and depression; thus, teachers should be equipped to establish supportive learning environments and mechanisms for referring students who need more than the level of support and counseling appropriate to the teaching role.
C. "Self-determination
  1. "Assumption: Women are active agents, not passive victims. We both shape and reflect our social context in an interactive process as we try to select the best choices open to us.
  2.

"Value: We recognize the value of self-determination, and we respect diversity in the behaviors and coping strategies that women use to adapt to and deal with their environments. Women may behave differently in coping with life experiences depending on such factors as their beliefs, values, and options. A focus on feminist practice thus becomes one of enhancing women's ability for self-determination. Although this principle is closely related to that of empowerment, the emphasis on self-determination is on changes within the person rather than on the environmental context. It also recognizes that women may have their own ideas about what is empowering and what is not.