Background

Improving the quality of life of women in the economic, social, cultural,

legal, political and national and regional development requires a specific strategy
that is not only done by those who care about the fulfillment of women's rights
but also requires the participation of all parties including government, men and
women themselves.
In the development context, empowerment is often associated with the
activities of public participation in the process of determining the use of this fund
at the village or district. Community participation in determining whether the aid
would be used to build a road or bridge is believed to be a process to empower
them. Current development approach that emphasizes community participation
is believed to be the recipe is more effective in reducing poverty than providing
assistance "top down" without due process of dialogue with the public. Since
then, the now developed many of the concepts and theories about the
relationship between empowerment, rights and efforts to reduce poverty.
Amartya Sen in his book Development As Freedom write specifically about
the role and position of women as subjects of development. Sen admitted that
the thought of women as agents of change is not new. Mary Wollstonecraft in
"Vindication of the Rights of Women" which was completed in the 18th century
has been called the position of women not only as objects that need to be
empowered, but women also plays a major role in making changes including help
drive to reduce poverty.
The role and position of women in development is also quite important but
looking at the past, female domestic work and jobs in other sub-systems makes
the role of women invisible in development of a country even in the household.
As a result, women's work is often considered worthless or inferior value to the
work of men.
The Impacts of Lacking Womens Empowerment
Empowerment can be defined as: in situations where there is an
imbalance of power relations, then someone who has sufficient capacity capable
of performing effective choices and can gain benefit from the efforts / projects
that seek to suppress poverty.
If woman was powerless then the process of impoverishment for women
increasingly widespread and result in rights of women will be violated where the
impoverishment concept of woman is because of their understanding of the
community, which emphasizes that women should only working in the field of
reproduction in the home and men have the opportunity to work in the field
production outside the home. The views of this traditional notion also appear on
the labelling negatively on women like her gentleness, forgiving, no fuss,
emotional, painstaking and diligent. As a result, there was a sexual division of
labor in which men get a favorable portion as being public wage, while women
become creatures private unwaged. [9]

But it should be a concern when the lead female dependency can not be
independent as long as the stigma society considers women only work in the
domestic sphere and can not work in the public sphere is getting stuck in depth.
The view so that the general public will conclude that the role of women in the
development of very small or should be subordinate to the existence of man as
the main pillars in the development for public view for people who still embrace
patriarchal system.
So that the necessary steps affirmation to women through the
empowerment of women whose main purpose is forcing the pace of poverty for
women.
How does empowerment
perspective?

take

form

in

community

from

gender

The forms of empowerment to women exists in three forms: the

empowerment of women in the economy through the creation of employment
opportunities and productive economic activity, and political empowerment
through community-based decision making. The third dimension - the social
empowerment - written in a gender strategy that saw the social aspects in
creating an enabling environment for women's participation but it also can be
done through the legal field because until now there are many product-laws were
very discriminate against women so there needs to be an understanding for
women about rights as citizens. But keep in mind the forms of empowerment
requires specific strategies due to the communities that will receive different
kind of social background, culture and education of the local community. For
example, if empowerment is done in rural and urban areas devoted to the fishing
communities, farmers landowners and farmers as laborers land is still using the
understanding of empowerment is the physical development alone, so it requires
more strategy namely first is through a personal approach to community leaders
and local empowerment programs attractive process and the languages
understood local community, in this community the ones who are benefited are
those with high participation. Treat in urban communities relative should use a
more specific way longer and deeper because in this community, the
heterogeneity of the population is already discussion is high and many people
who have high activity and even seem indifferent but it can not be used as a
common standard in cities, suburbs and countryside.
What is the main purpose of the women empowerment program?
If we classify in general, women's empowerment can be classified into two
main objectives, namely:
1. To improve the status, position and conditions of women in order to
achieve progress on par with men.
2. To build Indonesian children healthy, intelligent, cheerful and devoted
and protected

Two objectives above indeed if the observed explicitly only to the extent of
interest which impact on women and children, but it should be understood from
the meaning is actually the helpless women and increasing the quality of life of
children, will certainly affect the overall development because of the condition of
children healthy and smart by from pahammnya a mother and father on how to
make smart and healthy child alone will certainly impact the majuanya
development in the future because the child is the subject of such development,
including women.
Conclusion
Empowerment is a term most often used in an attempt to be aligned and
poverty reduction (reducing poverty). As described above, women's
empowerment as a process and as a goal, plays an important role in reducing
the poverty rate of women, which would certainly have a positive impact
development of the country, this is because there is unity between the roles of
women and men in development. Moreover, women who have undergone the
process of strengthening the knowledge and the way how to use the available
resources will be the agent of change is good for poor women and other people
in general.