To determine whether women are better off or not as a result of their work

experience, I will use the "empowerment of women" framework, which seeks to

understand how women can overcome gender inequalities.

 Due to the diversity of situations, there is not a single concept regarding the

elements that comprise "empowerment." The simplest explanation is provided by Kabeer

(1999), who explains the empowerment is the process through which those who have

been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire that ability. Stromquist

(2002) maintains that empowerment consists of the following dimensions: cognitive (the

critical understanding of one's reality), psychological (self-esteem), political (the

awareness of power inequalities and the ability to organize and mobilize); and economic

(the capacity to generate independent income). Deere and Leon (2000) understand

empowerment as a process in which women "gain control over their own lives and define

their own agendas." According to Malhotra et al (2002, cited in Dolan and Sorby

2003:43), four elements define the empowerment of women: options, choice, control, and

power. These terms generally represent women's ability to make decisions and to create

outcomes of significance to themselves and their families, and include what Parpart

(2002:4) describes as "both individual conscientization (power ii il/ii) as well as the

ability to work collectively, which can lead to politicized power i/ ilh others, which

provides the power to bring about change." In this sense, empowerment must be seen as

an opportunity for women to raise their consciousness and exercise their rights.

 All these descriptions of the empowerment of women include the achievement of

objective and subjective elements that allow women to acquire resources and personal

agency. As applied to the reality experienced by female flower workers in Ecuador,