Women's ability to develop skills with which to earn and/or save money and to use that money to assist themselves, their families and the communities in which they live is very important. Economic empowerment for women increases women's confidence, self-esteem and self-reliance, and improves women's status and increases their value in the family and the community. Having their own economic resources means that women become less vulnerable. Their dependency on people who abuse their power, whether male partners, in-laws, exploitive employers, upper-caste people, or money lenders, can be reduced. Economic empowerment enables women to expand their options and to choose among options, and increases the level of respect for them from men and from the community as a whole.

Having their own economic resources means that women become less vulnerable. Their dependency on people who abuse their power, whether male partners, in-laws, or exploitive employers, can be reduced. Economic empowerment is important for women and one of the keys to better relationships between men and women" (India).

In order for women to secure the support of male partners and other relatives for involvement in economic empowerment initiatives, women need to be able to show how money they raise will be used to benefit these individuals and others in the family. This is more true for women than for men in many instances. If women become successful in the sense of raising income and if men are able to benefit as well, men in the community may become more supportive of women meeting together and organizing such projects. They may also be less likely to engage in violence against women. As they see women's success, men in the community may become persuaded of the value of participating themselves or making it easier for women to participate by sharing some of the work women traditionally do, such as caring for children or cooking.

However, this process of economic empowerment is not straightforward. Women have experienced difficulties, including increased workloads and more time spent working. As women spend more time working outside the home, this can increase the work burden for other girls and women in the family which may interfere with their ability to attend school or take advantage of other opportunities, study time, or leisure time. Economic development for women can lead to tensions within the home about how the money will be used, reduced financial contributions from male members of the household, and/or violence from men who feel threatened by women's involvement. The women may be disillusioned when profits are small or nonexistent, and this can further undermine women's self-confidence.

Economic development may be restricted to activities traditionally undertaken by women rather than providing an introduction to new areas of work, thus reinforcing and not challenging the accepted role of women. The emphasis is often on increasing income without addressing women's life situation and the barriers faced by women in terms of balance of power, and access and control of resources and benefits. Women may face criticism from male colleagues who fail to appreciate the extent of women's responsibilities in the home which interfere with their ability to participate fully in an income-generating enterprise. The most successful craft co-op in El Salvador is run and operated by men, who are less burdened by childcare and domestic responsibilities because they have female partners to assume these. For related reasons they also have more time for education and gaining work experience which contribute to their success.

Men may also take over leadership of these income generating projects because men expect to be able to lead and women often look to men to lead because of low self-esteem and distrust of other women.

The income-generating activities that we encountered in each country could not be described as radical in orientation in the sense of directly challenging the unequal relationship of power between men and women or fundamentally changing the roles of women and men in these societies. Nevertheless, and notwithstanding the litany of other difficulties listed above, many of the women we met with would say that radical consequences, as defined within the context of their communities, have occurred. Income generating activities have provided a process through which women feel they are empowering themselves--as they build confidence and self-esteem, learn new skills, become more aware of their situation and position as women through discussion and awareness training, learn to assess, define and communicate their needs and priorities, and learn to depend more on themselves and their abilities. Therein lies the transformative potential; these are the first and critical steps in the long process of change in gender relations.