IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/soinre/v128y2016i3d10.1007_s11205-015-1074-7.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measurement of Women’s Agency in Egypt: A National Validation Study

Author

Listed:
  • Kathryn M. Yount

    (Emory University)

  • Kristin E. VanderEnde

    (Emory University)

  • Sylvie Dodell

    (Emory University)

  • Yuk Fai Cheong

    (Emory University)

Abstract

Despite widespread assumptions about women’s empowerment and agency in the Arab Middle East, psychometric research of these constructs is limited. Using national data from 6214 married women ages 16–49 who took part in the 2006 Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey, we applied factor analysis to explore and then to test the factor structure of women’s agency. We then used multiple indicator multiple cause structural equations models to test for differential item functioning (DIF) by women’s age at first marriage, a potential resource for women’s agency. Our results confirm that women’s agency in Egypt is multi-dimensional and comprised of their (1) influence in family decisions, including those reserved for men, (2) freedom of movement in public spaces, and (3) attitudes about gender, specifically violence against wives. These dimensions confirm those explored previously in selected rural areas of Egypt and South Asia. Yet, three items showed significant uniform DIF by women’s categorical age at first marriage, with and without a control for women’s age in years. Models adjusting for DIF and women’s age in years showed that women’s older age at first marriage was positively associated with the factor means for family decision-making and gender-violence attitudes, but not freedom of movement. Our findings reveal the value of our analytical strategy for research on the dimensions and determinants of women’s agency. Our approach offers a promising model to discern “hierarchies of evidence” for social policies and programs to enhance women’s empowerment.

Suggested Citation

  • Kathryn M. Yount & Kristin E. VanderEnde & Sylvie Dodell & Yuk Fai Cheong, 2016. "Measurement of Women’s Agency in Egypt: A National Validation Study," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 1171-1192, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:128:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-015-1074-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s11205-015-1074-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11205-015-1074-7
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11205-015-1074-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Upadhyay, Ushma D. & Hindin, Michelle J., 2005. "Do higher status and more autonomous women have longer birth intervals?: Results from Cebu, Philippines," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(11), pages 2641-2655, June.
    2. Kathryn Yount & Sarah Zureick-Brown & Rania Salem, 2014. "Intimate Partner Violence and Women’s Economic and Non-Economic Activities in Minya, Egypt," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(3), pages 1069-1099, June.
    3. Lee-Rife, Susan M., 2010. "Women's empowerment and reproductive experiences over the lifecourse," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 634-642, August.
    4. Mahmud, Simeen & Shah, Nirali M. & Becker, Stan, 2012. "Measurement of Women’s Empowerment in Rural Bangladesh," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 610-619.
    5. Mistry, Ritesh & Galal, Osman & Lu, Michael, 2009. "Women's autonomy and pregnancy care in rural India: A contextual analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(6), pages 926-933, September.
    6. Shelah Bloom & David Wypij & Monica Gupta, 2001. "Dimensions of women’s autonomy and the influence on maternal health care utilization in a north indian city," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 67-78, February.
    7. Shroff, Monal R. & Griffiths, Paula L. & Suchindran, Chirayath & Nagalla, Balakrishna & Vazir, Shahnaz & Bentley, Margaret E., 2011. "Does maternal autonomy influence feeding practices and infant growth in rural India?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 447-455, August.
    8. Fiona Steele & Harvey Goldstein, 2006. "A Multilevel Factor Model for Mixed Binary and Ordinal Indicators of Women's Status," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 35(1), pages 137-153, August.
    9. Sonalde Desai & Lester Andrist, 2010. "Gender scripts and age at marriage in India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(3), pages 667-687, August.
    10. Naila Kabeer, 1999. "Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(3), pages 435-464, July.
    11. Keera Allendorf, 2012. "Women’s Agency and the Quality of Family Relationships in India," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 31(2), pages 187-206, April.
    12. Story, William T. & Burgard, Sarah A., 2012. "Couples’ reports of household decision-making and the utilization of maternal health services in Bangladesh," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 75(12), pages 2403-2411.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Malapit, Hazel & Quisumbing, Agnes & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Seymour, Greg & Martinez, Elena M. & Heckert, Jessica & Rubin, Deborah & Vaz, Ana & Yount, Kathryn M., 2019. "Development of the project-level Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 675-692.
    2. Robin A. Richardson, 2018. "Measuring Women’s Empowerment: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Researchers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 539-557, June.
    3. Naveen Sunder, 2019. "Marriage Age, Social Status, and Intergenerational Effects in Uganda," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(6), pages 2123-2146, December.
    4. Yasmin, Nazia & Grundmann, Philipp, 2020. "Home-cooked energy transitions: Women empowerment and biogas-based cooking technology in Pakistan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    5. Miedema, Stephanie Spaid & Haardörfer, Regine & Girard, Amy Webb & Yount, Kathryn M., 2018. "Women’s empowerment in East Africa: Development of a cross-country comparable measure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 453-464.
    6. Yount, Kathryn M. & Crandall, AliceAnn & Cheong, Yuk Fai, 2018. "Women’s Age at First Marriage and Long-Term Economic Empowerment in Egypt," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 124-134.
    7. Yount, Kathryn M. & Cheong, Yuk Fai & Maxwell, Lauren & Heckert, Jessica & Martinez, Elena M. & Seymour, Gregory, 2019. "Measurement properties of the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Rania Salem & Yuk Fai Cheong & Kathryn M. Yount, 2018. "Is Women’s Work a Pathway to their Agency in Rural Minya, Egypt?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 807-831, April.
    9. Jones, Rebecca E. & Haardörfer, Regine & Ramakrishnan, Usha & Yount, Kathryn M. & Miedema, Stephanie S. & Roach, Timmie D. & Girard, Amy Webb, 2020. "Intrinsic and instrumental agency associated with nutritional status of East African women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    10. Kelly Pike & Beth English, 2022. "And roses too: How “Better Work” facilitates gender empowerment in global supply chains," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(1), pages 188-204, January.
    11. Elena Ambrosetti & Aurora Angeli & Marco Novelli, 2021. "Childbearing intentions among Egyptian men and women: The role of gender-equitable attitudes and women’s empowerment," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(51), pages 1229-1270.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robin A. Richardson, 2018. "Measuring Women’s Empowerment: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Researchers," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 539-557, June.
    2. Pratley, Pierre, 2016. "Associations between quantitative measures of women's empowerment and access to care and health status for mothers and their children: A systematic review of evidence from the developing world," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 119-131.
    3. Miedema, Stephanie Spaid & Haardörfer, Regine & Girard, Amy Webb & Yount, Kathryn M., 2018. "Women’s empowerment in East Africa: Development of a cross-country comparable measure," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 453-464.
    4. Yount, Kathryn M. & Dijkerman, Sally & Zureick-Brown, Sarah & VanderEnde, Kristin E., 2014. "Women's empowerment and generalized anxiety in Minya, Egypt," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 185-193.
    5. O'Hara, Corey & Clement, Floriane, 2018. "Power as agency: A critical reflection on the measurement of women’s empowerment in the development sector," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C), pages 111-123.
    6. Annan, Jeannie & Donald, Aletheia & Goldstein, Markus & Gonzalez Martinez, Paula & Koolwal, Gayatri, 2021. "Taking power: Women’s empowerment and household Well-being in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    7. Shroff, Monal R. & Griffiths, Paula L. & Suchindran, Chirayath & Nagalla, Balakrishna & Vazir, Shahnaz & Bentley, Margaret E., 2011. "Does maternal autonomy influence feeding practices and infant growth in rural India?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 447-455, August.
    8. Sonalde Desai & Lijuan Wu, 2010. "Structured Inequalities—Factors Associated with Spatial Disparities in Maternity Care in India," Margin: The Journal of Applied Economic Research, National Council of Applied Economic Research, vol. 4(3), pages 293-319, August.
    9. Etienne Breton, 2019. "Modernization and Household Composition in India, 1983–2009," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 45(4), pages 739-766, December.
    10. Yasmin, Nazia & Grundmann, Philipp, 2020. "Home-cooked energy transitions: Women empowerment and biogas-based cooking technology in Pakistan," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    11. Yount, Kathryn M. & Crandall, AliceAnn & Cheong, Yuk Fai, 2018. "Women’s Age at First Marriage and Long-Term Economic Empowerment in Egypt," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 124-134.
    12. Yount, Kathryn M. & Cheong, Yuk Fai & Maxwell, Lauren & Heckert, Jessica & Martinez, Elena M. & Seymour, Gregory, 2019. "Measurement properties of the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    13. Karp, Celia & Wood, Shannon N. & Galadanci, Hadiza & Sebina Kibira, Simon Peter & Makumbi, Fredrick & Omoluabi, Elizabeth & Shiferaw, Solomon & Seme, Assefa & Tsui, Amy & Moreau, Caroline, 2020. "‘I am the master key that opens and locks’: Presentation and application of a conceptual framework for women's and girls' empowerment in reproductive health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 258(C).
    14. Laszlo, Sonia & Grantham, Kate & Oskay, Ecem & Zhang, Tingting, 2020. "Grappling with the challenges of measuring women's economic empowerment in intrahousehold settings," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    15. Bussolo,Maurizio & Ezebuihe,Jessy Amarachi & Munoz Boudet,Ana Maria & Poupakis,Stavros & Rahman,Tasmia & Sarma,Nayantara, 2022. "Social Norms and Gender Equality : A Descriptive Analysis for South Asia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10142, The World Bank.
    16. Rania Salem & Yuk Fai Cheong & Kathryn M. Yount, 2018. "Is Women’s Work a Pathway to their Agency in Rural Minya, Egypt?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(2), pages 807-831, April.
    17. Tannistha Samanta, 2020. "Women’s empowerment as self-compassion?: Empirical observations from India," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(5), pages 1-18, May.
    18. Hamid Noghanibehambari & Farzaneh Noghani, 2023. "Long‐run intergenerational health benefits of women empowerment: Evidence from suffrage movements in the US," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(11), pages 2583-2631, November.
    19. Itismita Mohanty & Tesfaye Alemayehu Gebremedhin, 2018. "Maternal autonomy and birth registration in India: Who gets counted?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(3), pages 1-19, March.
    20. Biswajit Mandal, 2015. "Demand for maternal health inputs in West Bengal-Inference from NFHS 3 in India," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(4), pages 2685-2700.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:soinre:v:128:y:2016:i:3:d:10.1007_s11205-015-1074-7. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.