ABSTRACT
In Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen takes expanding freedom to be the
primary end and the principal means of development.
I discuss his emphasis on
women’s agency as central to development theory and practice and the strategies
he advocates for enhancing it. Recent work in feminist economics and postcolonial studies tests Sen’s complex account of freedom. Further levels of complexity
need to be added when we examine how global forces of power interact with
local systems of oppression in ways that often limit women’s freedom. This argument rests on an analysis of how globalization affects a domain of freedom that is
a central concern for Sen, that of increasing women’s freedom to work outside
the home as a way of strengthening their agency. Attending to elements missing
in Sen’s account will enhance freedom in women’s lives.
https://genderlibrary.org/a/images/papers/ExpandingFreedom.pdf