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Glossary entry

French term or phrase:

en matière d’Agence

English translation:

with regard to making choices and acting effectively

Added to glossary by Rimas Balsys
Mar 13, 2019 00:30
5 yrs ago
French term

en matière d’Agence

French to English Social Sciences Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc. Women\'s Empowerment
This is a website for "Women’s Empowerment through Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Objectif:
Accroître la pleine participation et autonomie des femmes rurales dans la vie économique en améliorant leurs compétences ***en matière d’Agence***, de techniques et de gestion d’AVEC [Village Savings & Loans Associations] ou d’entreprises et en améliorant l’accès des entreprises et coopératives existantes dirigées par des femmes aux marchés locaux, nationaux et/ou internationaux, aux services financiers et d’appui au développement des entreprises"
I totally get all the rest, and somewhere in the back of my mind I know what this means because I've come across it before, but I can't for the life of me recall what it is...
Any help would be greatly appreciated as always :-)
Proposed translations (English)
4 +3 with regard to making choices and acting effectively
3 building self-esteem, self-worth development and women's self-recognition

Discussion

Charles Davis Mar 25, 2019:
(Embarrassing spelling mistake hastily corrected in previous comment. I really am beginning to lose my marbles.)
Charles Davis Mar 25, 2019:
@Barbara Absolutely!
I had quite forgotten about this question, but I think your suggestion will do nicely.
B D Finch Mar 25, 2019:
@Charles Even though the word is a normal, non-jargon word, it's important to realise that sociology careers are built upon claiming specific and complex definitions.
Rimas Balsys (asker) Mar 13, 2019:
@ All Based on your comments (thank you!), "proactive" comes to mind as a close English equivalent that would have to be finessed into grammatically acceptable form (I agree "agency" wouldn't work for a public website that presumably is seeking support and donations for their cause) -- But am still open to suggestions :-)
Charles Davis Mar 13, 2019:
I wouldn't call it jargon. I'm quite familiar with the word in this sense and I'm not a sociologist.

Empowerment is something that happens to you, not something in which you acquire skills.
philgoddard Mar 13, 2019:
Charles But sociological jargon is not appropriate on a website presumably intended for the general public.

You say "capacity to act independently" and "something in which their skills are improved". "Empowerment" covers both of these concepts.
Charles Davis Mar 13, 2019:
I'm not completely confident that "agency" is the right word here, but it's not easy to think of a synonym. "Agency" is meat and drink to sociologists and its meaning is immediately clear. Here's a relevant quotation (at least I think it's relevant):

"Structuration theory is used to consider the role of structure and agency in the emergence, development and sustainability of rural social enterprise."
https://www4.ntu.ac.uk/nbs/document_uploads/109321.pdf
Charles Davis Mar 13, 2019:
I don't think it means "empowerment". It is something in which their competences or skills are being improved.

Whether people will understand "agency" correctly depends at least partly on whether they are accustomed to reading this kind of text. If not, then perhaps not.
philgoddard Mar 13, 2019:
I don't agree that "agency" works as a translation. That is one meaning of the word, but I don't think people would immediately understand it.

What about "empowerment"?
Charles Davis Mar 13, 2019:
Agency is very commonly used to refer to the capacity to act independently, and personally I think it would be suitable in this kind of text.
Ph_B (X) Mar 13, 2019:
Agency as in "capacité d'action/d'agir"? (2) In this UN-sponsored doc about women's empowerment (https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/uploaded-documents... they associate agence with "une participation accrue au processus de prise de décision".
Ph_B (X) Mar 13, 2019:
Agency as in "capacité d'action/d'agir"? I work with an NGO that deals with the empowerment of women in the Sahel and its E>F glossary translates "agency" by capacité d'action. I realize it's the other way round and I'll leave you to decide whether "agency" would work/mean anything in your text. If it doesn't, capacité d'action will perhaps suggest other possible translations into English? Additional info here, which, if you haven't already seen it, might put you on the right (English) track: L'anglicisme agency est fréquent dans les études de genre françaises, mais il existe également certaines formulations proposées par les traducteurs de Judith Butler (« capacité d'agir », « puissance d'agir ») et un néologisme, agentivité, qui est adopté par plusieurs chercheurs et est réputé correct au Canada.(https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agentivité). Do you know why they used a capital A? I would understand if it meant Agency as an "official body" but you wouldn't have asked your q if it had been the case. As for en matière de, I'd say it applies to Agence, techniques and gestion > "with regard to, as concerns".

Proposed translations

+3
1 day 9 hrs
Selected

with regard to making choices and acting effectively

I realise that this is a bit long-winded, but if you don't want to use the term "agency" because it's too much like jargon, then spelling it out for the general public takes more words.

By agency we mean an individual's (or group's) ability to make effective choices and to transform those choices into desired outcomes. Agency can be understood as the process through which women and men use their endowments and take advantage of economic opportunities to achieve desired outcomes.Aug 27, 2011
Promoting women's agency - World Bank Group
https://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2012/Resources/777...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 9 hrs (2019-03-14 10:07:17 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

"Being proactive" is not at all the same thing and would be a mis-translation. Personally, I'd use the term "agency" and even capitalise it as the source text does.
Peer comment(s):
agree Ph_B (X) : (improve their) capacity to act effectively - to make it shorter?/ Or even: ... to act independently ?/OK - all the more reason to use "agency" then. I still think it would be understood by people interested enough in that topic to look at the site.
49 mins
Thanks Philippe. Making choices is an essential element of agency. Both those aspects (choices and effective action) need to be included if one doesn't actually use the term "agency". It isn't just about acting independently either.// I agree with that.
agree Yvonne Gallagher
5 days
Thanks Yvonne
agree Charles Davis
11 days
Thanks Charles
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "or variations of this, but I think this sums it up neatly"
2 hrs

building self-esteem, self-worth development and women's self-recognition

C'est un peu l'idée
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