Jennifer Mitchell, aged 43 years, lives with her two children, Thomas (13 years) and Amelia (six years). They live in a private rental property in a suburb of a major city. Jennifer migrated to...

10
Women Empowerment, Post-Structuralism and Its Application to the Given Case Study
Introduction
The evolution of the societies across world has undoubtedly helped in reducing the boundaries between the genders. However, the biases and prejudices of people still remain somewhere as the undercurrent of this development against women. In spite of the emerging waves of feminism that work for women empowerment, the global societies have seen and experienced that set bias or gender based segregation that does not imply the laws of equality. In other words, the women have to suffer on the grounds of the pre-established mentality that she is weaker than man and she is responsible to carry out the roles and responsibilities of the household only. As per the observation of the given case study of Jennifer, her life is full of struggles; she confronts challenges at her workplace as well as in her personal life, including the formal caretaking of her children alone. Her exemplary case adheres to the basic implication of fundamental rights of woman of having equality as well as of post-structuralism which discerns the fundamental understanding of human consciousness.
Main Arguments of Women Empowerment
    At first, it is significant to note here that the concept of women empowerment is driven from the fights against the social evil of gender based biases and prejudices. For centuries, women have been subjected as the weaker sex than men and they are expected to live as the subordinates of men in a male dominated society. In the past, in almost every part of the world, women were not supposed to work outside their homes because it was perceived that they are made to take care of household duties and rearing children at home. When modern values in societies across globe were implemented, supporters of women empowerment began raising voice against these prejudices.
The revolutionary ideas appeared on social surfaces of people, challenging the capacity of males to work hand in hand with females. In other worlds, women empowerment theory argues for equality of living and earning and, therefore, it sought equality in the rightful place given to females in societies. The argument was focused on maximizing the opportunities given to women to participate in social, political and economical activities like men did. The same arguments continue to dominate at present. The equality of living not only let women to work precisely over their personal alleviation, but also it posed grave challenges to male dominance in general, calling for an action that women needed so that they can have exclusive privileges of sharing the society equally with males. It was more like bringing equality by all means and no by dealing with one aspect of social security only—the social security for women already existed to some extent. The demand was to expand working criteria for women so that they can be made financially equivalent to men.
Main Arguments of Post-Structuralism
    The theory of post-structuralism confronted human consciousness based on their approaches to deal with the social problems. The philosophical approach with which, the theory of post structuralism argues is that the consciousness of human beings is the guiding light within them that leads on the path of truth. However, not always, people tend to listen to their consciousness especially when the matters are related to their personal interest. Oppressive attitude and restrictions posed over the social and economical independence of women is one of such issues. The laws in society—no matter how biased they were for centuries—were implemented against women and in spite of knowing that the laws were prejudiced against one gender, they were accepted and it gave people a strong weapon to keep women subdued within the premises of homes.
    Additionally, post-structuralism did not present any direct challenge to the existing social laws—the nature of this law remains the same still. However, the abstract perceptions about making the social laws and keeping them intact somewhere existed. In other words, the actions of men in society were not relevant with a view to social equality and some people thought of changing the laws as well. But the majority of people always overlooked the insightful views based on their consciousness appeals. In resulted in the silent acceptance of biased laws that was applied over women for centuries.
Rationale for Selecting Women Empowerment
    In the context of examining the rationale for selecting women empowerment as relevant to the given case study, Jennifer is the clear example where her social rights are violated. Being a single mother, it is hard for her to manage the responsibilities of her two children alone. Her husband, Mark, did not assist her in the time of crisis. Her financial status is low due to the unfortunate accident she met with. She is the perfect example that should be given space and liberty of living in society. Securing her employment status would help her empower her financial conditions and it will reduce her tensions to a large extent. She requires stability not only on the grounds of economical stability but also on social sphere as well. She fulfills the requisites of being victimized by the social and financial circumstances and through women empowerment, sustainability objectives can be...