Global success for policy actions on poverty reduction have been patchy over the last 15 years; East and South Asia have seen significant advances, but in other regions the story is different, in particular in Sub-Saharan Africa where poverty has actually deepened. Facts and figures are abundant in detailing various impacts of such poverty, but consistent data availability and reliability is a huge problem, with universal limitations as well as context-specific challenges. In preparation for a 2015 UN Women technical seminar in Milan on measuring rural women’s empowerment, CeSPI drafted this issue’s paper to explore the specific issues and challenges associated with data gathering in the context of rural women, from design, to implementation, and analysis.

 

The draft defines and conceptualises women’s empowerment through a literature review, before explaining the strategic importance of rural women’s empowerment, and discussing the challenge of making proper measurements and indices. On this last point, the authors talk about the strengths and weaknesses of a variety of gender and development related indices produced by different international agencies, and note that all suffer from a lack of data availability. Lastly, the implications and limitations of the measurement of social institutions are covered, from family to government, with striking commonalities highlighted across all regions and cultures.

 

The paper then picks out ten key considerations from the topics discussed that are important to keep in mind when continuing the debate on proper measurement regarding rural women’s empowerment:

 

  • It is important not to lose sight of the conceptual level in a preoccupation with measuring trends and impact; definition, conceptualisation, and measurement must all be clearly related, understandable, and accessible.
  • Data availability and quality varies greatly around the world, which is a particular problem in developing countries with limited capacities. Such data cannot be considered comprehensive, nor complete.
  • Multiple, complementary measurements should be used when describing something as complex as women’s empowerment. Trade-offs are inevitable, and it is reasonable to limit investigations so long as these parameters are clearly communicated.
  • Data collection is expensive yet invaluable to policy makers, so it is important to make indicators count, to stand for something important, to be time- and place-relevant, and accessible to measurement, and for data to be accessible to as many people as possible to foster innovation and participation.
  • Research should be encouraged to go beyond the micro-macro and quantitative-qualitative paradigms, and experiment with different combinations of research methods and sources, including new opportunities opened by coming data revolution.
  • As many countries and actors as possible need to join in innovation programmes on statistics and data collection, at every level of society, and disaggregated by gender and socioeconomic factors.
  • Smallholder farmers, the majority of whom worldwide are women, must be recognised for, and empowered in, their eco-service provision, yet data collection in rural areas is difficult, complex, and lacking.
  • The debate on the post-2015 development agenda links women’s empowerment to food security and nutrition, recognising the multiple vulnerabilities and proposing transformative goals that address gender inequality and discriminatory social norms; a dual-track of mainstreaming a specific goal concerning gender equality throughout all other goals is required.
  • The last decade has seen a number of frameworks, indicators, and research methods employed, with many strengths and weaknesses identified; these can act as inspiration for enhancement and debate.
  • Finally, the authors recommend that the Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) and its sub-indices represent an excellent starting point to measure the interaction between social institutions and women’s empowerment, as it reflects the root-cause societal practices and legal norms perpetuating gender inequalities.

 

It is hoped that these considerations can help inform what remains the key question for discussion at the seminar in Milan: how to practically improve the measurement of rural women’s empowerment in the short- and long-term, at national level?