Blog » Resources, Agency, and Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s Empowerment (1999)
Resources, Agency, and Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s Empowerment (1999)
This foundational paper by Naila Kabeer was one of the first to conceptualize and measure women’s empowerment rigorously, defining it as a process by which those previously denied the ability to make strategic choices are able to do so. The ability to exercise choice incorporates three interrelated dimensions: resources (preconditions for choice), agency (the ability to act on choices), and achievements (outcomes of those choices). Aspects of these dimensions have been incorporated into key composite indices such as the Gender Empowerment Measure, Gender Inequality Index, Gender Gap Index, and Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, among others.
Blog » Resources, Agency, and Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s Empowerment (1999)
Resources, Agency, and Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s Empowerment (1999)
This foundational paper by Naila Kabeer was one of the first to conceptualize and measure women’s empowerment rigorously, defining it as a process by which those previously denied the ability to make strategic choices are able to do so. The ability to exercise choice incorporates three interrelated dimensions: resources (preconditions for choice), agency (the ability to act on choices), and achievements (outcomes of those choices). Aspects of these dimensions have been incorporated into key composite indices such as the Gender Empowerment Measure, Gender Inequality Index, Gender Gap Index, and Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index, among others.