why might the phrase 'empowerment of women' be less 'politically

You would never read about women like Hilary Clinton or the Queen "feeling empowered" by getting a new bra or whatever.

They don't need to be empowered, they already have power.

It makes me think of Oprah Winfrey and self-help books.

Nothing wrong with those things but the focus is on an individual feeling better about themself / their own situation rather than changing things for the better for a group of people.

And it always seems to relate to things like having a new wardrobe of clothes or pole dancing or wearing a boob tube when you are very large or stopping being very large and being smaller instead and wearing a boob tube.... Just very daytime / lightweight / inconsequential.

You never read or see anything which says eg the women in are feeling much more empowered since women got voted into 70% of the seats in the local council and there are now female execs in most of the top decision-making decisions locally.

Wearing a boob tube does not equal power. Gaining power equals power.

I also find it significant that empowering is never a phrase used to describe choices men make. Only women.

emancipation implies a state of oppression that one must be liberated from

empowerment (to me) implies wheeeee just gals crazy feather boa hen nite girl power stuff, or when people at the shit end of a power differential are 'consulted' about their needs before decisions made way in advance are implemented

empowerment is feel good bullshit for people who have no power, extended to them to keep them sweet

because the way empowered is used these days hardly ever has anything to do with power external to the woman - it is never about her being given actual power, just used to mean that she feels powerful inside. Hence it is very bland and pointless. Not only that, it is often associated with stuff that is actually disempowering to women in other ways: for instance, high heeled shoes are meant to make women feel all empowered, but they stop you being able to run properly.

Emancipation has historically had an meaning to do with human or political rights being given to a group of people. With the history of slaves being 'emancipated', it's not surprising the word is charged.

because you can say it a straight face when referring to poledancing or boob jobs hth