UNDERSTANDING & MEASURING WOMEN’S ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

UNDER S TA NDING &ME A SUR ING WOMEN ’ SECONOMIC EMPOW ER MENTDEFINI T ION , FR A ME WOR K & INDIC ATOR SBy Anne Marie Golla, Anju Malhotra, Priya Nanda and Rekha Mehra

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSICRW gratefully acknowledges the Department of InternationalDevelopment (DFID), the ExxonMobil Foundation and the Bill and MelindaGates Foundation for their generous support of this work. 2018 International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). All rights reserved. Sections of this documentmay be reproduced without the express permission of but with acknowledgment to ICRW.Cover Photos: David Snyder/ICRW

I. IntroductionThere is increasing recognition that economically empoweringwomen is essential both to realize women’s rights and toachieve broader development goals such as economic growth,poverty reduction, health, education and welfare. In the lastfive years, a broad range of organizations have committedthemselves to the goal of women’s economic empowerment.These organizations realize that economically empoweringwomen is a win-win that can benefit not only women, butsociety more broadly. It promotes women’s ability to achievetheir rights and well-being while also reducing householdpoverty, increasing economic growth and productivity, andincreasing efficiency.Research has found strong reasons to emphasize women’seconomic empowerment in development programs: Economic empowerment is one of the most powerfulroutes for women to achieve their potential and advancetheir rights. Since women make up the majority of the world’s poor,meeting poverty-reduction goals requires addressingwomen and their economic empowerment. Discrimination against women is economically inefficient.National economies lose out when a substantial part ofthe population cannot compete equitably or realize its fullpotential. Working with women makes good business sense. Whenwomen have the right skills and opportunities, they canhelp businesses and markets grow. Women who are economically empowered contributemore to their families, societies and national economies. Ithas been shown that women invest extra income in theirchildren, providing a route to sustainable development.Anne Marie Golla/ICRWAs interest in fostering women’s economic empowermentgrows, two questions arise.1.How is women’s economic empowerment defined?What does the term women’s economic empowermentencompass?2.How can women’s economic empowerment be measuredand evaluated so organizations can show they are on theright track to achieving it?Answers to these questions are essential to design meaningfulstrategies that will lead to women’s economic empowerment.This document addresses them by presenting:1.A definition of women’s economic empowerment;2.A measurement framework that can guide the design,implementation and evaluation of programs toeconomically empower women; and3.A set of illustrative indicators that can serve as concreteexamples for developing meaningful metrics for success.David Snyder/ICRWThe concepts presented here are meant to help practitioners,researchers and donors design effective, measurableinterventions to advance women economically. In developingthese concepts, we have drawn both on the available literatureand on ICRW’s direct experience in evaluating women’seconomic empowerment programs. This document is intendedas a conceptual guide, rather than an operational tool kit.Economic empowerment is a complex process, and the generalframework presented here will have to be adapted to meet theneeds of specific projects.Understanding & Measuring Women's Economic Empowerment 1International Center for Research on Women

II. Defining Women’s EconomicEmpowermentIII. Addressing Women’s EconomicEmpowermentDefinition: A woman is economically empowered when shehas both the ability to succeed and advance economically andthe power to make and act on economic decisions.To achieve women’s economic empowerment, organizationsmust address the underlying factors that contribute toit: individual and community resources, and norms andinstitutions. To succeed and advance economically, women need theskills and resources to compete in markets, as well as fairand equal access to economic institutions.To have the power and agency to benefit from economicactivities, women need to have the ability to make and acton decisions and control resources and profits.As Figure 1 illustrates, economic empowerment is comprisedof two inter-related components: 1) economic advancementand 2) power and agency. Both components are connected,and both are necessary to achieve better lives for womenand their families. Economic gain and success (economicadvancement) promote women’s power and agency. At thesame time, when a woman is able to control and share inresource use (power) and to define and make choices (agency),she is better able to advance economically.Resources are the building blocks women can draw on tosucceed economically or to exercise power and agency.Resources can be at the individual or community level. Theyare more than financial or monetary in nature, and include: Human capital (e.g., education, skills, training) Financial capital (e.g., loans, savings) Social capital (e.g., networks, mentors) Physical capital (e.g., land, machinery)Norms and Institutions are the “rules of the game” or theorganizational and social systems that govern activities andmediate relations between individuals and their social andeconomic environment. Norms and institutions influence howresources are distributed and used. Norms include gender defined roles, taboos, prohibitionsand expectations such as whether or not it is appropriatefor women to be in public spaces, hold certain types ofjobs, or manage money. Institutions include legal and policy structures, economicsystems, market structures, marriage, inheritance andeducation systems.Figure 1: Women’s Economic Empowerment:Two Necessary, Inter-related Components2 Understanding & Measuring Women's Economic EmpowermentInternational Center for Research on Women

Projects may approach economic empowerment by workingeither to enhance the resources available to women or toredefine norms and institutions. Furthermore, projects maywork toward advancing women economically or buildingwomen’s power and agency. These different paths toaddressing women’s economic empowerment are illustratedin Figure 2. For example, a microcredit program that providesloans to women works primarily to increase women’seconomic advancement through resources. A literacy or lifeskills program primarily increases women’s personal resourcesin order to increase their power and agency. While bothprojects work to increase women’s economic empower-ment,they do so along different pathways.In addition, economic empowerment can be addressedat different levels. For example, projects may work at theindividual, household or organization level, or at the level ofcommunities or social networks.Figure 2: Contributors to Women’s Economic EmpowermentAddressing Resources, Institutions and NormsThe specific factors that signal progress toward women’seconomic empowerment may be different in differentcontexts. They may even change over time, as countries orregions become more developed. Figure 2 provides examplesof how some projects would fit within the framework.No single program can address all of the factors thatcontribute to women’s economic empowerment. Rather, ifeconomic empowerment is seen as a complex, multilayeredpie, programs should “choose their slice.” That is to say, theyshould concentrate efforts on where they can make the mostdifference given their resources, timeframe, local conditions,and also consider what other organizations are doing.Even though most programs take on their specific slice ofthe pie, framing their work within a broader framework ofeconomic empowerment is essential. Understanding the wideropportunities and challenges women face in the specific contextof the project is important in order to: Determine where resources are best spent to meet goals; Design the best intervention; Identify areas outside of the project focus that may help orhinder its success; and Define clearly what the program will and will not change,and where change outside of the project is necessary forthe project to succeed.PROJECT EXAMPLELiteracy Training provides apersonal resource that boostswomen’s agency.PROJECT EXAMPLEPROJECT EXAMPLEMicrocredit removesconstraints to financialresources that may allowwomen to advanceeconomically.Community Campaignschange social institutions(norms) that presentbarriers to women’sagency.PROJECT EXAMPLEMarket Based Approacheschange how market actors andinstitutions treat women and allowfor their economic advancement.Understanding & Measuring Women's Economic Empowerment 3International Center for Research on Women

IV. Measuring Women’s EconomicEmpowermentAs illustrated in Figure 2, women’s economic empowermenthas many dimensions and is specific to the context underconsideration. Projects address economic empowermentthrough different pathways. The indicators suitable for onearea or program may not be relevant elsewhere. No universalset of indictors is appropriate for every project, in every sectorand in every context.Rather, measurement should align with the “slice” ofwomen’s economic empowerment that a particular programchooses to address. For evaluation purposes, a projectshould measure only what it will reasonably change. Whileeffectively measuring women’s economic empowermentrequires considering indicators of both women’s economicadvancement and women’s power and agency, many projectsdo not seek to achieve change in both areas. This meansthat individual projects may focus measurement more onone component than the other or may not measure bothcomponents.Figure 3: A Framework to Measure Women’sEconomic EmpowermentFigure 3 presents a matrix for measuring women’s economicempowerment, which uses sample indicators to show differentstages at which results can be measured. These stages rangefrom project outputs and immediate outcomes to intermediateand longer term impacts. Determining which stage to measuredepends on what is feasible to measure given the project’sresources, expected impact and timeframe. As the matrixshows, agency/power and economic advancement can bemeasured separately. Both quantitative and qualitativemethods are appropriate for measurement, depending onwhat type of information is needed and feasible to collect.The framework emphasizes the importance of not focusingexclusively on impact indicators in developing monitoring andevaluation (M&E) plans. It is equally important to prioritizethe measurement of process, output and outcome indicators,such as women’s participation in the project and which womenparticipated. All projects should measure basic processoutputs and outcomes. These indicators can provide initialassessments of whether a project is on the right track andwhether it is engaging women as intended. They are usuallymore straightforward to measure than indicators of deeperor longer-term impact. Not all indicators can or should bemeasured at the highest level. Often, it is not realistic toexpect to be able to measure the deepest, long-term impactwithin the project’s time frame.4 Understanding & Measuring Women's Economic EmpowermentInternational Center for Research on Women