The United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) includes the following factors in its definition of women's empowerment.

• acquiring knowledge and understanding of gender relations and the ways in which these relations might be changed
• developing a sense of self-worth, a belief in one's ability to secure desired changes and the right to control one's life
• gaining the ability to generate choices and exercise bargaining power
• developing the ability to organise and influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order.

In nearly every country, women work longer hours than men, but are usually paid less and are more likely to live in poverty. In subsistence economies, much of a woman's day is taken up with performing household tasks such as carrying water and collecting fuel wood.

In many countries women are also responsible for agricultural production and market work. Often they take on paid work or entrepreneurial enterprises as well. Yet in most parts of the world women are virtually absent from, or are poorly represented in economic decision-making. Some of the reasons for this are:

• they have less experience in dealing with formal financial institutions
• they tend to have smaller enterprises and fewer assets
• they are less likely to own land or other assets and face legal barriers to borrowing in many countries
• illiteracy rates are higher among women
• low income women tend to concentrate on different economic activities than low income men

Although many of the world's poor women are self-employed in micro-enterprises and small businesses, they have access to very little rural credit. Yet, research has found that when women are given credit they are more reliable in making loan repayments than men. One of the most successful credit schemes ever set up has been the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Loans are managed by small groups and the whole group is held responsible if a borrower does not repay a loan. However there must be careful monitoring of loans to prevent money getting into men's hands. Often money is handed over to the men either voluntarily or by force.

Look at the Grameen Bank website. Also investigate similar credit schemes in your own country.

Throughout the world women face obstacles to their participation in politics. Increasing the level of female representation and participation in decision-making bodies requires well-developed strategies. Media awareness of the constraints on women can also make a difference.

Although there has been some improvement in the situation for women in the political arena, they are still vastly underrepresented in the higher echelons of political parties. In 2006, out of a total of 191 members of the United Nations and a few independent states outside, the number of women leaders had increased to just 19, including monarchs and Governor Generals.

• countries with female Presidents in 2006: Chile, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Liberia and The Philippines.
• countries with woman Prime Ministers in 2006: Bangladesh, Germany, Jamaica, New Zealand, Mozambique and São Tomé e Princípe and The Netherlands Antilles.

Why gender parity in politics is important.

• a government that is made up exclusively of men cannot claim to be a government for the people by the people.
• women are best placed to identify and articulate their own needs and concerns.
• the entry of women into parliament has seen a significant broadening of the issues under debate.
• countries that exclude women from decision-making are depriving themselves of a rich resevoir of talent, experience and wisdom and are missing out on the qualitatively different approach that women seem to bring to the decision-making process.

Some political parties, generally at women's instigation, have introduced a quota system, either by requiring that a designated percentage of party leaders be women or by instituting a rule that calls for a balance. But affecting changes in laws can require considerable patience and a deep understanding of the cultural context.

Even when they do manage to break through the glass ceiling women often find themselves having to work within patriarchal structures and systems that are alien to them.