The document summarizes the development and piloting of the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) in three countries. The WEAI measures women's empowerment and inclusion in the agricultural sector across five domains. It was piloted in Bangladesh, Guatemala, and Uganda. Results showed varying levels of women's empowerment between 31.9-37.3% across sites. Disempowered women lacked adequate achievement in some domains. The WEAI identifies how to target policies to increase women's empowerment and gender parity in different contexts.

1. Piloting and Development of the
Women‘s Empowerment in
Agriculture Index

2. Purpose
• Design, develop, and test an index to measure the
greater inclusion of women in agricultural sector
growth that has occurred as a result of US
Government intervention under the Feed the Future
Initiative
• What is ―greater inclusion‖? The concept of Inclusive
Agricultural Sector Growth is broad and multi-
dimensional
• Feed the Future defines it as: ―the empowerment of
women in their roles and engagement throughout
the various areas of the agriculture sector, as it
grows, in both quantity and quality‖

3. Why focus on women?
• Women are important in agriculture, account for
43% of the agricultural labor force worldwide (SOFA
2011)
• Yet women consistently have less resources than
men: land, education, access to extension and
credit, inputs--resulting in yield gaps of between 20-
25%
• Closing the gap in access to resources could
increase agricultural productivity—with benefits for
families and the next generation

4. What is new about the WEAI?
• An aggregate index in two parts:
– Five domains of empowerment (5DE): assesses
whether women are empowered in the 5 domains of
empowerment in agriculture
– Gender Parity Index (GPI): reflects the percentage of
women who are as empowered as the men in their
households
• It is a survey-based index, not based on aggregate
statistics or secondary data, constructed using interviews
of the primary male and primary female adults in the
same household

5. Five Domains
of Women’s
Empowerment
in Agriculture

6. The reality of the pilot
• Tested feasibility in a real-world setting before scale-
up
• New survey instrument was piloted in 3 countries
(Bangladesh, Guatemala, Uganda), with ~350
households/625 individuals each, focusing on the
Feed the Future zones of influence
• Representative of the zone of influence (not
nationally)
• An innovation in the measurement and monitoring of
women‘s empowerment in agriculture—not the final
word on it!

7. Innovations in survey design and
implementation
• Index components designed to be applicable across
countries and cultures
• Men and women from the same household are
interviewed
• The survey questionnaire modules focus on men‘s
and women‘s empowerment in agriculture
• The index applies to women in households with male
adults--as well as those with only female adults.

8. Case studies
Case studies consisted of
interviews on five domains with
narratives to explain answers,
describe ―life stories,‖ and get
concepts of empowerment from
men and women themselves
“Being empowered, it means
that the woman can do things
too, not just the man”
~ Woman, Guatemala aged 63

9. Country choice
Three Feed the Future countries in different
regions and different socio-cultural contexts,
focused on the zone of influence:
• Bangladesh, Guatemala, Uganda
• Split roughly 20/80 between single female and
dual adult households
Collaborators:
• Data Analysis and Technical Assistance, Ltd.
(Bangladesh),
• Vox Latina (Guatemala),
• Associates Research Uganda Limited (Uganda).

10. Bangladesh
• Southern part of the country
– 25 villages from 5 rural
districts (Khulna, Madaripur,
Barguna, Patuakhali and
Jessore)
– 18 households randomly
selected from each village (14
dual adult; 4 female adult
only)
• Sample size: 450
households (800 individuals)

11. Guatemala
• Western highlands, large
indigenous population
– 25 villages from 28 targeted
municipalities from 5
departamentos (Quetzaltengo,
San Marcos, Huehuetenango,
El Quiché and Totonicapán)
– 14 households randomly
selected from each village (11
dual adult; 3 female adult only)
• Sample size: 350
households (626 individuals)

12. Uganda
• Northern, Central, and Eastern
– 25 Local Councils in 25 Parishes
in 5 preselected rural districts:
Kole and Amuru (North), Masaka
and Luwero (Central) and Iganga
(Eastern)
– 14 households randomly selected
from each LC (11 dual adult; 3
female adult only)
• Sample size: 350 households (625
individuals)

13. Construction of the Women‘s
Empowerment in Agriculture
Index and pilot results

14. Scope of the WEAI
• Focus is strictly on empowerment in agriculture,
distinct from:
– Economic status
– Education
– Empowerment in other domains
This enables clear analysis of external determinates of
empowerment in agriculture.
• WEAI is international; Local adaptation possible.

15. How is the Index constructed?
WEAI is made up of two sub indices
Five domains Women’s
of Empowerment Gender parity
empowerment in Agriculture Index (GPI)
(5DE) Index Women‘s
A direct measure of (WEAI) achievement‘s
women‘s relative to the
empowerment in 5 primary male in hh
dimensions All range from zero to one;
higher values = greater empowerment

16. A woman’s empowerment score shows her own
achievements
Five domains of empowerment

17. Who is empowered?
A woman who has achieved
‗adequacy‘ in 80% or more
of the weighted indicators
is empowered

18. 5DE Methodology
Alkire and Foster 2011. J of Public Economics.
• The 5DE is based on the Alkire Foster methodology and
reflects:
– Incidence of Empowerment - The percentage of women who are
empowered
– Adequacy among the Disempowered - The weighted share of
indicators in which disempowered women enjoy adequate
achievements
• Based on each woman‘s empowerment profile
• Identifies who is empowered
• Shows how women are disempowered
• Rigorous properties

19. Gender Parity Index (GPI)
Reflects two things:
1. The percentage of women who enjoy gender parity. A
woman enjoys gender parity if
– she is empowered or
– if her empowerment score is equal to or greater than the
empowerment score of the primary male in her household.
2. The empowerment gap - the average percentage shortfall
that a woman without parity experiences relative to the
male in her household.
The GPI adapts the Foster Greer Thorbecke Poverty Gap measure to reflect
gender parity.

20. Formula
5DE = He + HdAe
He is the percentage of empowered women
Hd is the percentage of disempowered women
A is the average absolute empowerment score among the
disempowered
GPI = Hp+ HwRp
Hp is percentage of women with gender parity
Hd is the percentage of women without gender parity
R is the women‘s relative parity score compared to men
He + Hd = 100% Hp + Hw = 100%

21. Lilian, Uganda
Empowerment Score = 83%
Has achieved parity with her
husband Wilson

22. Lilian is Empowered

23. Seema, Bangladesh
Empowerment Score
= 64%
She has not achieved parity with
her husband
On average, disempowered women
in the Bangladesh pilot have
empowerment scores of 61%

24. Seema is Disempowered

25. Bangladesh Pilot results
• 31.9% of women are empowered
• Disempowered women have adequate
achievements in 60.7% of domains
• 59.8% of women enjoy gender
parity
Overall, the WEAI
• Households without gender parity
have a 25.2% empowerment gap
score is 0.749
between the woman and man

26. Bangladesh: How to increase empowerment?

27. Bangladesh: How to increase empowerment?
Contribution
of each
indicator to
disempower-
ment of
women and
men

28. Guatemala Pilot
results
• 22.8% of women are empowered
• Disempowered women have
adequate achievements in 58.3%
of domains
• 35.8% of women have gender Overall, the WEAI
parity score is 0.692
• 29.1% empowerment gap

29. Guatemala: How to increase empowerment?

30. Uganda Pilot results
• 37.3% of women are empowered
• Disempowered women have
adequate achievements in 64.4%
of domains
• 54.4% of women have gender
Overall, the WEAI
parity
score is 0.789
• 22.4% empowerment gap

31. Uganda: How to increase empowerment?

32. Empowerment, wealth and education
• Wealth – clear association with empowerment in
Uganda, but an imperfect proxy in Bangladesh and
Guatemala:
– 76% in top three quintiles are disempowered in Guatemala
• Education – significant influence in Guatemala and
Uganda but insignificant for men and women in
Bangladesh:
– In Uganda, 35% of women with less than primary schooling
are empowered vs. 45% with primary education
– 31% of women with less than primary education were
empowered in Bangladesh vs. 33% with primary schooling

33. Relevance for policymaking
1) Captures empowerment directly:
– Using new data, not proxies
– Shows how to empower women in each context
2) Three ways to change it:
– Empower women
– Increase scores among disempowered women
– Increase gender parity & reduce gap