Title: Agency achieved or not: result of a development intervention targeting ultra-poor women in Bangladesh

Authors: Rumana Ali

Addresses: Dhaka, Bangladesh

Abstract: This paper tries to capture the impact of a development intervention on women's agency. The objective of the intervention was to bring the targeted ultra-poor households out of extreme poverty and integrate them into mainstream development interventions by providing women with assets and capacity building to generate income from that asset. This paper attempts to understand the impact of the intervention using the lens of the agency. The study employed a qualitative approach to collect and analyse the data. Findings show that women's contribution in household income could not bring any significant change in women's agency in case of mobility and protesting violence, although took them in a better position regarding decision-making. The dominant ideology, cultural values, and norms inbuilt in the social structure were appeared to be a hindrance to gender equality. The study recommended designing interventions that change ideological level as much as material aspect.

Keywords: agency; community; choice; decision-making; development; empowerment; gender; ideology; resource; poverty; mobility.

DOI: 10.1504/IJGSDS.2022.121101

International Journal of Gender Studies in Developing Societies, 2022 Vol.4 No.3, pp.247 - 261

Accepted: 25 Sep 2021
Published online: 24 Feb 2022 *