Women Facing Power. A Reflection on Empoderamiento

The usage that is made of the term ‘empoderamiento’ by feminism is closely connected to the importance that has been given to the idea of power in both social movements and theories of social science. In the analyses put forward by Gramsci, Foucault and Paulo Freire, power is defined as a historically and culturally determined social relationship. Even if these authors do not make any direct reference to the power inherent in gender relationships, and do not use the word empoderamiento or any of its equivalents, their analyses inspired the reflections that would be developed by the Women’s Movement. Starting from what would come to be known as ‘second wave’ feminism in the 1970s, groups appeared that started to use the term empoderamiento or empowerment, and to discuss what it meant. The use of this term by the Women’s Movement appears as a strategy to spark change in the daily lives of women and the realisation of a process of transformation in social structures.