IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/wdevel/v191y2025ics0305750x25000853.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Intersectionality matters: An analysis of women’s empowerment among livestock holders in Nepal, Senegal and Uganda

Author

Listed:
  • Serra, Renata
  • McKune, Sarah
  • Ludgate, Nargiza
  • Singh, Nitya
  • Devkota, Kabita
  • Fall, Mouhamed
  • Obin, Gordon
  • Touré, Alioune
  • Tiwari, Chhavi
  • Russo, Sandra

Abstract

Many tools have been deployed to measure women’s empowerment in development contexts, but few have explicitly adopted an intersectional lens when studying livestock holders. This paper uses an intersectional approach to analyze qualitative (Focus Group Discussions, FGDs) and quantitative data (using the Women’s Empowerment in Livestock Index, WELI) for livestock-holding communities in Nepal, Senegal, and Uganda. Our analysis focuses on the intersection between gender and caste in Nepal, and gender and ethnicity in Senegal and Uganda. Findings from 71 FGDs reveal important differences in the gender distribution of livestock-related roles by caste or ethnic groups and in conceptualizations of women’s empowerment. Multivariate regressions for individual empowerment scores derived from the WELI (821 men and women interviewed separately) show that, in Senegal and Uganda, differences in empowerment indicators by gender are statistically significant even when ethnicity is considered, but further comparisons between ethnic groups reveal deeper insights. Conversely, in Nepal, the most pronounced differences in empowerment are between women (and men) from different castes, while gender differences within each caste are more limited. Qualitative findings help shed further light on these findings by unveiling dimensions of empowerment that are locally deemed important but are not captured by WELI indicators. We also compare the contribution of intrinsic, instrumental, and collective agency indicators to the disempowerment of different gender and intersectional groups and discuss possible reasons for all these differences, aided by the findings from FGDs. We provide recommendations for improving future intersectional analyses employing WELI and mixed-method approaches.

Suggested Citation

  • Serra, Renata & McKune, Sarah & Ludgate, Nargiza & Singh, Nitya & Devkota, Kabita & Fall, Mouhamed & Obin, Gordon & Touré, Alioune & Tiwari, Chhavi & Russo, Sandra, 2025. "Intersectionality matters: An analysis of women’s empowerment among livestock holders in Nepal, Senegal and Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:191:y:2025:i:c:s0305750x25000853
    DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107000
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X25000853
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.worlddev.2025.107000?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. Sapna Desai & Thomas de Hoop & C. Leigh Anderson & Bidisha Barooah & Tabitha Mulyampiti & Ekwaro Obuku & Audrey Prost & Howard White, 2023. "Improving evidence on women’s groups: a proposed typology and common reporting indicators," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(4), pages 489-499, May.
    2. Nitya Rao, 2014. "Caste, Kinship, and Life Course: Rethinking Women's Work and Agency in Rural South India," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 78-102, July.
    3. Bhawana, KC & Race, Digby, 2020. "Women’s approach to farming in the context of feminization of agriculture: A case study from the middle hills of Nepal," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    4. Saha, Shree & Narayanan, Sudha, 2022. "A simplified measure of nutritional empowerment: Using machine learning to abbreviate the Women’s Empowerment in Nutrition Index (WENI)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    5. Chesney McOmber & Katharine McNamara & Therese d’Auria Ryley & Sarah L. McKune, 2021. "Investigating the Conceptual Plurality of Empowerment through Community Concept Drawing: Case Studies from Senegal, Kenya, and Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, March.
    6. Katharine McNamara & Sarah McKune, 2024. "Embodied empowerment: using embodiment to understand nutrition–empowerment connections," Development in Practice, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(1), pages 76-91, January.
    7. Isabelle Baltenweck & Esther L. Achandi & Renee Marie Bullock & Zoe A. Campbell & Todd A. Crane & Erin R.B. Eldermire & Leah Gichuki & Nicoline de Haan & Elizabeth Katz & Nelly Njiru & Esther Njuguna-, 2024. "Livestock as a Pathway to Women’s Empowerment in Low and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(6), pages 813-830, June.
    8. Bacud, Eva Salve Tino & Gerullis, Maria Katharina & Puskur, Ranjitha & Heckelei, Thomas, 2024. "Looking at gender is not enough—How diversity of farmers’ marginalization relates to varietal trait preferences," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    9. Kumar, Neha & Raghunathan, Kalyani & Arrieta, Alejandra & Jilani, Amir & Pandey, Shinjini, 2021. "The power of the collective empowers women: Evidence from self-help groups in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    10. Rachana Devkota & Laxmi Prasad Pant & Helen Hambly Odame & Bimala Rai Paudyal & Kelly Bronson, 2022. "Rethinking gender mainstreaming in agricultural innovation policy in Nepal: a critical gender analysis," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(4), pages 1373-1390, December.
    11. 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.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Rao, Nitya, 2017. "Assets, Agency and Legitimacy: Towards a Relational Understanding of Gender Equality Policy and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 43-54.
    2. Reboul, E. & Guérin, I. & Nordman, C.J., 2021. "The gender of debt and credit: Insights from rural Tamil Nadu," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    3. Shukla, Shruti & Mosha, Neema R. & Meyer, Sarah R. & Harvey, Sheila & Lees, Shelley & Mshana, Gerry & Stöckl, Heidi, 2025. "Women's informal group participation and intimate partner violence in Mwanza, Tanzania: A longitudinal study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 364(C).
    4. DeJaeghere, Joan & Pellowski Wiger, Nancy & Le, Hue & Luong, Phuong & Ngo, Nga Thi Hang & Vu, Thanh Thi & Lee, Jongwook, 2022. "Why do aspirations matter for empowerment?: Discrepancies between the A-WEAI domains and aspirations of ethnic minority women in Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    5. Rao, Nitya & Singh, Chandni & Solomon, Divya & Camfield, Laura & Sidiki, Rahina & Angula, Margaret & Poonacha, Prathigna & Sidibé, Amadou & Lawson, Elaine T., 2020. "Managing risk, changing aspirations and household dynamics: Implications for wellbeing and adaptation in semi-arid Africa and India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    6. Espada, Ana Luiza Violato & Kainer, Karen A., 2023. "Women and timber management: From assigned cook to strategic decision-maker of community land use," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    7. Saha, Shree & Narayanan, Sudha, 2022. "A simplified measure of nutritional empowerment: Using machine learning to abbreviate the Women’s Empowerment in Nutrition Index (WENI)," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    8. Galvin, Lauren & Verissimo, Cristiana K. & Ambikapathi, Ramya & Gunaratna, Nilupa S. & Rudnicka, Paula & Sunseri, Amy & Jeong, Joshua & O'Malley, Savannah Froese & Yousafzai, Aisha K. & Sando, Mary Mw, 2023. "Effects of engaging fathers and bundling nutrition and parenting interventions on household gender equality and women's empowerment in rural Tanzania: Results from EFFECTS, a five-arm cluster-randomiz," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 324(C).
    9. Shrestha, Gitta & Pakhtigian, Emily L. & Jeuland, Marc, 2023. "Women who do not migrate: Intersectionality, social relations, and participation in Western Nepal," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    10. Mockshell, Jonathan & Nielsen Ritter, Thea, 2024. "Applying the six-dimensional food security framework to examine a fresh fruit and vegetable program implemented by self-help groups during the COVID-19 lockdown in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    11. Helen M. Haugh & Alka Talwar, 2016. "Linking Social Entrepreneurship and Social Change: The Mediating Role of Empowerment," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 133(4), pages 643-658, February.
    12. K. Gayathri Reddy & Varsha, P. S. & L. N. Sudheendra Rao & Amit Kumar, 2019. "Exploring dimension, perceived individual tension and capacity building measure of women empowerment in India," Asian Journal of Empirical Research, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 9(5), pages 111-131, May.
    13. Alice W Clark & T V Sekher, 2007. "Can Career-Minded Young Women Reverse Gender Discrimination?," Working Papers 179, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.
    14. Gaurav Dhamija & Punarjit Roychowdhury & Binay Shankar, 2025. "Does urbanization empower women? Evidence from India," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 38(1), pages 1-47, March.
    15. chatterjee, susmita, 2017. "Empowerment translated to transition," MPRA Paper 80067, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Pratyusha Basu & Alessandra Galiè, 2021. "Introduction to Special Issue: Gender and Rural Development: Sustainable Livelihoods in a Neoliberal Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-4, November.
    17. Alkire, Sabina & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth & Peterman, Amber & Quisumbing, Agnes & Seymour, Greg & Vaz, Ana, 2013. "The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 71-91.
    18. Lone Badstue & Patti Petesch & Cathy Rozel Farnworth & Lara Roeven & Mahlet Hailemariam, 2020. "Women Farmers and Agricultural Innovation: Marital Status and Normative Expectations in Rural Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-22, November.
    19. 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.
    20. Bhukta, Rikhia & Pakrashi, Debayan & Saha, Sarani & Sedai, Ashish, 2024. "Community electrification and women’s autonomy," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).

    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:eee:wdevel:v:191:y:2025:i:c:s0305750x25000853. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/worlddev .

    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.