Measuring Women’s Empowerment

Women’s Empowerment Index

Pathways Program

CARE, with the help from TANGO constructed a Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) that was modeled
after the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI).1 Similar to the WEAI, the WEI includes
the Five Domains of Empowerment (5DE) index, which reflects the percentage of women who are
considered empowered, based on their empowerment score. We calculate this score from 13 weighted
indicators within five domains: production, resources, income, leadership, and autonomy. A woman
who achieves an empowerment score of .80 or greater is considered to be empowered. To allow for
country-specific improvement, baseline values are adjusted to country-specific thresholds.
The WEAI also involves a Gender Parity Index (GPI), which measures differences in empowerment of
various domains between men and women. Due to differences in how certain questions were presented
to men and women, the WEI used in Pathways baseline analyses does not include the GPI per se, but
rather examines men’s and women’s empowerment in each domain. Gender parity measurements are
based only on households in which a man and a woman answered questionnaire modules respective to
their sex. Thus, no female-only households are included, and no households where a man was
unavailable to respond to Modules H through Q in the questionnaire are included (see the
Supplementary Annexes accompanying this report). Empowerment scores are constructed for men and
women, however a GPI is not tabulated.
The 5DE index is calculated using the following formula.

5DE = He + HdAe = (1- HdA)

Where:
He is the percentage of empowered women
Hd is the percentage of disempowered women
Ae is the average absolute empowerment score among the disempowered

WEAI vs. WEI: Indicator weights

Domain Indicator WEAI weight WEI (CARE) weight
With decision-making input for HH
10% 10%
PRODUCTION productive decision domains
(20%) With autonomy in HH production
10% 10%
domains

1 International Food Policy Research Institute. 2012. Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Feed the Future.
 With sole or joint ownership of
6.67% 6.67%
household assetsa
With sole or joint control over
RESOURCES
purchase or sale of household 6.67% 6.67%
(20%)
assetsa
With access to and decisions on
6.67% 6.67%
credit
With control over household
INCOME
income and expenditures in HH 20% 20%
(20%)
decision-making domainsb
Participating in formal and
10% 5%
informal groups
Confident speaking about gender
LEADERSHIP &
and other community issues at the 10% 5%
COMMUNITY
local level
(20%)
Who express self-confidence N/A 5%
Demonstrating political
N/A 5%
participation
Satisfied with the amount of time
10% 6.67%
available for leisure activities
Workload 10% 0%
TIME/
Achieving a mobility score of 16 or
AUTONOMY N/A 6.67%
greater
(20%)
Expressing attitudes that support
gender equitable roles in family N/A 6.67%
life *
Total 100% 100%
a excluding poultry, small consumer durables, and non-mechanized farm equipment as modeled in the WEAI.
b excluding minor household expenditures as modeled in the WEAI.
* This indicator not included for Bangladesh
Indicator: Women’s empowerment index
INDICATOR DESCRIPTION
Precise definition(s): This indicator is closely modelled after the Women’s Empowerment in
Agriculture Index (WEAI), recently developed for Feed the Future, which measures the roles and
extent of women’s engagement in the agriculture sector in five domains: a) decisions about
agriculture production, b) access to and decision-making power over productive resources, c) control
over use of income, d) leadership in community, and e) satisfaction with leisure time.
Additional domains include self-confidence, political participation, mobility, and gender attitudes.
Unit of measure: Number between zero and one.
Disaggregated by: Sex of HH head Direction of desired change: higher mean
Need to contextualize: Ensure that formal and informal group categories in Modules L (Individual
Leadership) and U (influence in community) are relevant to the country of study.
PLAN FOR DATA ACQUISITION
Data collection method: Beneficiary-based survey
Data source(s): Primary male and female decision-makers
Frequency and timing of data acquisition: Baseline and end-line surveys; annual monitoring
Location of data storage: M&E desktop PC and backup copy maintained at CARE Country Office
DATA QUALITY ISSUES
Date of initial data quality assessment by country office:
Known data limitations and significance (if any):
Actions taken or planned to address data limitations:
Date of future data quality assessments:
Procedures for future data quality assessments:
PLAN FOR DATA ANALYSIS*
Data analysis: The women’s empowerment score is tabulated as a weighted sum of the domains of
empowerment and a measurement of gender parity.
The matrix below indicates general guidelines for calculating indicators used as part of a women’s
empowerment index. However, the exact threshold for any specific indicator will be determined for
each country at baseline. The baseline value should not exceed 40-60% in order to allow for
improvements resulting from program activities.
Indicator Definition of Success Inadequacy cut-off
Input into a country-specific % that is > 50% of all Inadequate if individual does not
productive productive decision domains; can make decisions
decisions* make sole or joint decisions AND input
into all or most decisions
Autonomy in country-specific achievement (1-5 Inadequate unless s/he makes sole
production* domains) decisions
Ownership of a country-specific % that is > 50% of all Inadequate if household owns the
assets* household asset domains EXCEPT asset but s/he does not own solely
 chicken, non-mechanized equipment, or jointly own the asset
small consumer durable
Purchase or sale a country-specific % that is > 50% of all Inadequate if: 1) HH does not own
of assets* asset decision domains EXCEPT for asset, or 2) if owned by s/he does
chickens or non-mechanized farm not participate in ANY decisions
equipment about it
Access to and achievement in any decisions on loans Inadequate if 1) no loans taken out,
decisions on or 2) loans taken out but s/he
credit didn’t participate in any decisions
about them
Control over achievement in any if not only minor Inadequate if participates in
household income household expenditures decisions on activity but has no or
and expenditures* little input on decisions on use of
income
Group member achievement in any Inadequate if not a member of any
group
Speaking in public achievement in two out of four
Leisure time n/a Inadequate if response is
“disagree”
Mobility score of 16 or higher see Indicator Guidance on
Women’s Mobility
Self-confidence achievement in any two Inadequate if response is “strongly
disagree”, OR “somewhat disagree”
OR “no difference”
Attitudes on achievement in all See Indicator Guidance on %
gender respondents expressing attitudes
that support gender-equitable roles
in family life
Political achievement in any and made her Inadequate if did not vote OR if did
participation own decisions about who to vote for vote but did not make her own
decision about who to vote for
* Calculated as a the ratio of the number of domains in which women are making sole or joint
decisions or have sole ownership to the number of domains in which the household makes decisions
or owns the asset.
See additional guidance provided by FTF.
Further Guidance
International Food Policy Research Institute. 2012. Feed the Future: Women’s Empowerment in
Agriculture Index. US Agency for International Development. International Food Policy Research
Institute; Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.
Alkine, S. & A. Vaz. Calculating the WEAI. Power Point presentation. June 27, 2012.