“I could do that!”– The role of a women's non-governmental organisation in increasing women's psychological empowerment and civic participation in Wales
Leah Hibbs
Abstract
Empowering women and girls, and increasing their participation in civil society, has become a core focus of international sustainable development policy. However, there is a lacuna regarding research into the role of women's Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) which improve women's psychological, feminist empowerment in the United Kingdom and so findings are presented here from an in-depth qualitative case-study of a Welsh women's NGO which aimed to psychologically empower women and, subsequently, improve their civic participation. The women interviewed experienced increases in their individual psychological empowerment, formed important ‘sisterhood’ and friendships, and did become more involved in civil society. The paper centralizes the ways in which the NGO played a key role in individually empowering interviewees, further equipping them with skills and resources to enable their future participation in civic life. This paper makes an original empirical and conceptual contribution by adapting Zimmerman's Psychological Empowerment Framework to offer new insights into the processes of engendering civic participation and empowering women in a feminist group context.