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The Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI):

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  • Malapit, Hazel J.
  • Pinkstaff, Crossley
  • Sproule, Kathryn
  • Kovarik, Chiara
  • Quisumbing, Agnes R.
  • Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela

Abstract

The fifth Sustainable Development Goal—to “achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls†—reflects a growing consensus that these are key objectives of development policy in their own right, while also contributing to improved productivity and increased efficiency, especially in agriculture and food production. To deliver on this commitment to women’s empowerment in development calls for appropriate measures that can be used to diagnose the scope and major sources of disempowerment and to measure progress. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a survey-based tool codeveloped by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) (Alkire et al. 2013). The index was originally designed as a monitoring and evaluation tool for the U.S. government’s Feed the Future initiative to directly capture women’s empowerment and inclusion levels in the agricultural sector. Since its launch in February 2012, the WEAI has been implemented in the 19 Feed the Future focus countries. As with any new metric, pilot testing in a few selected countries with limited sample sizes is insufficient to demonstrate how the WEAI would perform when rolled out on a wider scale. Concerns expressed by users of the WEAI led to the creation of an abbreviated version—the A-WEAI. This paper begins by presenting a brief overview of the WEAI and its construction. It then proceeds to discuss (1) the background and motivation behind the creation of the A-WEAI; (2) the steps taken to develop the AWEAI— namely, cognitive testing and piloting of different modules, particularly those that were difficult to administer in the field; (3) analysis of the pilot data from Bangladesh and Uganda; (4) domain-specific comparisons of the different pilot versions; and (5) robustness checks and empowerment diagnostics from the A-WEAI as compared with the original WEAI. The paper concludes by summarizing the modifications to the original WEAI and discussing possibilities for further development of empowerment metrics based on the WEAI.

Suggested Citation

  • Malapit, Hazel J. & Pinkstaff, Crossley & Sproule, Kathryn & Kovarik, Chiara & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela, 2017. "The Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (A-WEAI):," IFPRI discussion papers 1647, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:fpr:ifprid:1647
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sabina Alkire, James E. Foster, Suman Seth, Maria Emma Santos, José M. Roche and Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 7 - Data and Analysis," OPHI Working Papers ophiwp088_ch7.pdf, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    2. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James & Seth, Suman & Santos, Maria Emma & Roche, Jose Manuel & Ballon, Paola, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199689491.
    3. Malapit, Hazel J. & Sproule, Kathryn & Kovarik, Chiara, 2016. "Using cognitive interviewing to improve the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index survey instruments: Evidence from Bangladesh and Uganda:," IFPRI discussion papers 1564, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Sabina Alkire & James E. Foster & Suman Seth & Maria Emma Santos & Jose M. Roche & Paola Ballon, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty Measurement and Analysis: Chapter 7 - Data and Analysis," OPHI Working Papers 88, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford.
    5. Stephen R. Boucher & Catherine Guirkinger & Carolina Trivelli, 2009. "Direct Elicitation of Credit Constraints: Conceptual and Practical Issues with an Application to Peruvian Agriculture," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 57(4), pages 609-640, July.
    6. Malapit, Hazel J. & Sproule, Kathryn & Kovarik, Chiara & Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Ramzan, Farzana & Hogue, Emily & Alkire, Sabina, 2014. "Measuring progress toward empowerment: Women's empowerment in agriculture index: Baseline report," IFPRI books, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), number OCLC 884924765.
    7. World Bank, 2012. "World Development Report 2012 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2012]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4391, December.
    8. Cheryl Doss & Ruth Meinzen-Dick & Allan Bomuhangi, 2014. "Who Owns the Land? Perspectives from Rural Ugandans and Implications for Large-Scale Land Acquisitions," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 76-100, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. 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).
    2. 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.
    3. Kassie, M., 2018. "The nutrition impacts of women’s empowerment in Kenyan agriculture: Application of the multinomial endogenous switching treatment regression," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276003, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Khed, Vijayalaxmi D. & Krishna, Vijesh V., 2023. "Agency and time poverty: Linking decision-making powers and leisure time of male and female farmers of Central India," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    5. 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.
    6. Genova, C. & Umberger, W. & Peralta, A. & Newman, S., 2018. "Dietary diversity of children and teenagers in Northern Vietnam," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 276033, International Association of Agricultural Economists.

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    Keywords

    agricultural development; gender equity;

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