Measuring women empowerment is a complex and multifaceted phenomenon. The elements involved in measuring women empowerment are interrelated and multi-dimensional.

You should keep in mind that there is no single variable, tool, or method that can be used to measure empowerment. Every situation can be different and tools and approaches are tailored and adopted respectively.

Empowerment is a process where a woman or an individual takes control of their own lives by gaining power and confidence in themselves. It includes decision-making and control of tangible (money and land) and intangible (skills and knowledge) resources.

You should also understand that there is no single figure that can measure women empowerment. But it is a mixture of calculating change in different aspects and elements.

These aspects and elements are related to measuring a change in women presentation and participation in education, economy, and politics.

7 Indicators to Measure Women Empowerment

In the picture below you can see seven pillars or indicators. These indicators should be considered when measuring empowerment.

1. Educational Attainment

One of the pillars to measure women empowerment is educational attainment. It can be calculated by measuring women’s reach to education.

This includes measuring quantitative and qualitative sex-disaggregated data. Such as the literacy rate of men and women, and the enrollment rate of girls and boys in schools and colleges.

Qualitatively empowerment can be measured by evaluating the quality of education. Followed by examining the infrastructural facilities in a school, the presence of a gender-sensitive curriculum and the method of teaching.

2. Economic Participation

Economic independence plays an important role in a person’s empowerment. Therefore, measuring women’s economic independence is crucial.

This involves calculating the number of women in leadership positions or in decision-making roles. And their power and access to make decisions and use resources.

Economic empowerment can also be measured by calculating the number of land, property, bank accounts owned by women.

3. Political Representation

Assessing women’s representation in local and national assemblies is an important indicator of measuring women’s empowerment. The number of women in parliaments or who hold political positions in parties represents how empowered women are in a country.

The higher number means that women are free and empowered to make decisions for themselves and to represent women’s issues in government bodies.

The political representation of women in politics can also be measured by evaluating a country’s policies. Policies that encourage women to take part in politics.

It includes the voice power and involvement of women in the process of policymaking, policy outcomes and social perspective on developed policies.

4. Social and Cultural Factors

Societal and cultural norms are deeply rooted elements of any society.

These norms are developed on the values, practices, behavior, and belief systems. These are important variables that affect women empowerment and development in society.

The status of a woman in a society is a powerful indicator that depicts the empowerment of women. Societal attitudes and cultural norms shape the status of a woman in a society.

Hence, societal attitudes and cultural norms toward women’s education, political participation, and financial independence can depict the empowerment of women.

Societal and cultural norms can be evaluated by assessing the strength and inclusivity of women’s social networks. Evaluating the support systems and their contribution to women empowerment can also help to analyze the situation.

5. Health and Well-being

Women’s health is another important pillar in measuring women empowerment. It can be analyzed by evaluating maternal mortality rates, mental health, access to healthcare facilities, and reproductive rights.

One important element in this indicator is measuring the freedom in decision-making regarding reproductive health issues.

6. Legal and Policy Frameworks

A country’s law or legal system plays an important role in promoting empowerment and gender equality.

Hence, the empowerment of women can also be measured by examining the existing laws and policies of a country.

These laws can be evaluated to check how they promote gender equality and discourage discrimination.

7. Access to Technology

The use of technology in today’s world is an important factor that empowers an individual. Therefore, the use of technology by women shows their level of empowerment.

This can be evaluated by measuring the number of female mobile users in an area. How technology is promoting gender equality in the field of education, health, or economy.

Empowerment is a dynamic process. Therefore, measuring women empowerment and gender equality requires adopting multifaceted approaches.

It contains an understanding of the relationship and association of various factors.

7 Tools to Mesure Women Empowerment

Despite the pillars or indicators discussed above, some tools have been developed to measure this complex yet important concept.

These tools measure the combination of different indicators that help to evaluate empowerment.

1. Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI)

The Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) was launched in 2012 by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI), and USAID.

The WEAI was the first of its kind comprehensive and unique index that measured women empowerment in the agriculture sector.

The WEAI focused on five key areas of production, income, leadership, resources, and time use.

1. Production. This area focuses on women’s ability to make decisions and exercise control over resources without fear of consequence.
2. Income. It means that women are able to benefit from economic activities.
3. Leadership. Women have the ability and access to participate in community activities.
4. Resources. It emphasizes that women have access to and control over the resources.
5. Time. Women have enough time to spend on productive activities including education and leisure time instead of working on house chores (The Hunger Project; Roy, Chatterjee, & Gupta, 2018).

2. Women Empowerment Index (WEI)

The Women Empowerment Index (WEI) is a composite index that is primarily based on the concept of the Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI).

This tool measures women empowerment by tracking the progress of their achievement as well as gender parity in five key areas of agency, income, leadership, resources, and time (The Hunger Project).

3. Gender Development Index (GDI)

The Gender Development Index (GDI) tool was introduced by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 1995.

It measures gender gaps in human development achievements. These achievements are based on three areas of health, education and command over resources (UNDP, n.d.).

1. Health is measured by male and female life expectancy at birth. It means that the average number of years a newborn is expected to live. If the life remains the same at the time of its birth and throughout its life (World Bank, n.d.).
2. Education here is measured by the expected years of schooling for a boy or a girl and the mean years of schooling for adults ages 25 years and older.
3. Lastly, the command over resources is measured by female and male estimated earned income (UNDP, n.d.).

It is important to note that the GDI is not specifically a measure of gender inequality.  

4. Human Development Index (HDI)

This tool was developed and compiled by the United Nations in 1990. However, in 2010 the United Nations upgraded it methodological approach to calculate Human Development.

The HDI measures social and economic development at the country level. It is measured using three dimensions based on life expectancy, knowledge and living standards.  

1. Life expectancy. This dimension is measured by calculating life expectancy at birth. In the new index, the minimum life expectancy is reduced to 20 years which previously was 25 years. Whereas, the maximum life expectancy was set at 83.5 years, which previously was 85 years. The formula to calculate the life expectancy remained the same.
2. Knowledge. In the prior index, two indices Adult Literacy Index and Gross Enrolment Index were used. These were replaced by Minimum Years of School and Expected Years of Schooling Index.
3. Living standards. The minimum income set in old HD was $100 and the maximum income was $40,000. As per the new index, the minimum income was set at $163, and the maximum income was set at $108,211 (Mohanty & Dehury, 2012; Majerová, 2012).

The difference between GDI and HDI is that GDI is calculated on sex-disaggregated data – it means that GDI depicts the gender gap.

Whereas, HDI collectively gives an overview of both women and men in health, education and living standards. It does not show inequalities, poverty, and empowerment (UNDP, n.d.).

5. Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)

The Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) was developed by the United Nations in 1995. The aim of this tool is to measure inequalities between men and women in a country and across the globe.

GEM measures gender disparities based on three dimensions of empowerment.

1. Economic participation and decision making. This dimension is focused by evaluating the number of men and women in senior and technical positions and senior officials and managers.
2. Political participation and decision making. This aspect is measured by calculating the representation of women and men in the parliament and senate of a country.
3. Power over economic resources. It is calculated by the share of income earned by men and women in a country (CBS, n.d.).

6. Gender Inequality Index (GII)

The Gender Inequality Index (GII) was also introduced by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).

This tool measures gender inequality that is also based on three dimensions of reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market.

1. The reproductive health. This dimension is calculated on two indicators. (a) the Maternal Mortality Ratio and (b) the Adolescent Fertility Rate.
2. Empowerment. It is measured by calculating the share of parliamentary seats held by each gender. Additionally, it also calculates the level of secondary and higher education attained by women and men.
3. The labor market. This dimension is measured by women’s participation in the workforce.

The GII is measured between the values of 0 and 1. The higher values, such as 0.91, represent a higher level of gender inequality. The lower value such as 0.01 or 0 means that gender equality prevails in all dimensions (WHO, n.d.).

The GII was introduced in 2010 after the UN faced criticism for its limited methodological approach in GDI and GEM. The limited approach gained attention and was debated by academics and policy-makers (Dijkstra, 2006; Malhotra, Boender, & Schuler, 2002; Dijkstra, 2001).

Broadly, it was argued that both  GDI and GEM were not designed to measure gender equality but it was “… some combination of absolute levels of achievement and a punishment for inequality” (Dijkstra, 2001).

7. Gender Gap Index (GGI)

The Gender Gap Index (GGI) is a report that is annually published by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The purpose of this report is to measure gender gaps at the national level. The report is prepared by using four dimensions on economic opportunities, political participation, education, and health-based criteria.

1. Economic participation and opportunity. It measures female and male unemployment levels, remuneration for equal work, number of women in managerial positions, duration of maternity leave, childcare facilities provided by the government, and wage inequalities between men and women.
2. Political empowerment. This dimension is measured by calculating the number of female ministers, the percentage of shared seats in parliament, the number of years a female has been head of state, and the percentage of women holding senior legislative and managerial positions.
3. Educational attainment. This is measured by calculating literacy rates of men and women, enrolment of girls and boys in primary, secondary and tertiary education and average years of schooling.
4. Health and wellbeing. This dimension is measured by calculating government efforts to reduce poverty and inequality, the percentage of birth attended by skilled health staff, maternal and infant mortality rates, and adolescent fertility rate (OECD).

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Concluding Remark

This blog post gives you a pathway to measure women empowerment. It informs you about the tools and indicators that can be used to measure women empowerment.

Measuring women empowerment is a complex process. It involves multiple dimensions and interrelated factors.

To measure empowerment, it’s important to recognize the complexity and uniqueness of each situation. As there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.

Measuring empowerment can be achieved by the use of indicators and tools discussed in this blog post.

The indicators, such as education, economic participation, political representation, societal norms, health, legal frameworks, and technology, gives a holistic view.

Whereas tools, like WEAI, WEI, GDI, HDI, GEM, GII, and GGI provide modules to measure empowerment.

The combination of indicators and tools offers comprehensive evaluations, aiding in understanding and fostering women empowerment globally.

FAQ

Name 7 tools to measure women empowerment

1. Women Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI)
2. Women Empowerment Index (WEI)
3. Gender Development Index (GDI)
4. Human Development Index (HDI)
5. Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM)
6. Gender Inequality Index (GII)
7. Gender Gap Index (GGI)

Name 7 indicators to measure women empowerment

1. Educational Attainment
2. Economic Participation
3. Political Representation
4. Social and Cultural Factors
5. Health and Well-being
6. Legal and Policy Frameworks
7. Access to Technology

References

CBS. (n.d.). Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM). Retrieved August 9, 2023, from Statistics Netherlands

Dijkstra, G. (2001). Revisiting UNDP’S GDI and GEM: Towards an Alternative. Social Indicators Research, 301–338.

Dijkstra, G. (2006, July). Towards a Fresh Start in Measuring Gender Equality: A Contribution to the Debate. Journal of Human Development, 7, 275-283.

Malhotra, A., Boender, C., & Schuler, S. R. (2002, June 28). Measuring Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development. Retrieved November 02, 2023, from www.ssatp.org

Mohanty, S. K., & Dehury, B. (2012). Human Development Indices: Old and New. Artha Vijnana, 19-38.

OECD. (2022). Analysis of DAC members’ policies in support of women’s economic empowerment. Paris: OECD Publishing.

OECD. (n.d.). Gender Equality Indicators: What, Why and How? Retrieved November 22, 2023, from The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Roy, D. C., Chatterjee, D. S., & Gupta, D. S. (2018, January). Women Empowerment Index: Construction of a Tool to Measure Rural Women Empowerment Level in India. Munich Personal RePEc Archive, pp. 199-212.

The Hunger Project. (n.d.). THE WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT INDEX. Retrieved November 2, 2023, from LSA Technology Services University of Michigan

UNDP. (n.d.). GENDER DEVELOPMENT INDEX (GDI). Retrieved August 12, 2023, from United Nations Development Programme

UNDP. (n.d.). Human Development Index (HDI). Retrieved August 22, 2023, from United Nation Development Programme

WHO. (n.d.). Gender Inequality Index (GII). Retrieved October 19, 2023, from World Health Organization

WHO. (n.d.). Worl Health Organization. Retrieved November 3, 2023, from Gender and health

World Bank. (n.d.). Metadata Glossary. Retrieved August 19, 2023, from The World Bank