Corey O’Hara|Floriane Clément
Power as agency: A critical reflection on the measurement of women’s empowerment in the development sector
Tufts University
despite extensive literature complex nature empowerment current efforts measure womens empowerment agricultural development sector largely limited assessing visible forms agency take critical look current efforts measure womens empowerment individualhousehold level standardized tools examine results household survey conducted nepal using womens empowerment agriculture index weai developed monitoring evaluation tool feed future initiative interpretation results informed qualitative fieldwork conducted region quantitative analysis regress correlates empowerment identified literature age education household wealth income household composition individual empowerment measured weai several factors associated womens empowerment significantly associated household composition intrahousehold relationships expected essential factors local context appear unrelated weai empowerment score measure critical consciousness tested alongside weai instrument appears instead closely associated factors qualitative findings reveal discrepancy local meanings empowerment definitions empowerment defined terms agency based results suggest improvements measurement may possible approaches measure power predominantly terms agency decisionmaking include critical consciousness framework