The Women's Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems (WEMNS) is a streamlined measurement tool with 12 indicators across four domains: intrinsic agency, instrumental agency, collective agency, and agency-enabling resources. It was developed by IFPRI, Emory University, Oxford University, and the World Bank for use in large-scale surveys across rural and urban areas. The metric employs a counting-based methodology to identify respondents as empowered or disempowered based on indicator adequacy.
Use Cases
- Analyze the contribution of each of the 12 WEMNS indicators to overall disempowerment scores, leveraging the metric's decomposability.
- Compare empowerment scores between genders using the 8 indicators applicable to men versus the full 12 used for women.
- Apply the WEMNS counting-based methodology to identify respondents as adequate or inadequate against specified thresholds for each indicator.
- Examine the distribution of empowerment across the four equally weighted domains: intrinsic agency, instrumental agency, collective agency, and agency-enabling resources.
- Pilot the WEMNS tool at scale to determine the exact number of indicators required for a respondent to be classified as 'empowered'.
Strengths
- The metric is structured around 12 specific indicators mapped to four distinct domains of empowerment.
- It is designed for decomposability, allowing analysis of each indicator's contribution to disempowerment.
- Developed through collaboration between major international research institutions and country partners in Bangladesh, Guatemala, Malawi, and Nepal.
- Intended for application in large-scale, multitopic surveys across both rural and urban contexts.
Limitations
- The specific threshold number of indicators required to be considered 'empowered' is not yet finalized and awaits piloting at scale.
- The dataset's sample size, row count, and specific data structure (columns) are unknown from the provided input.
- Geographic coverage is limited to the pilot countries mentioned, which may not be globally representative.
Provenance
- Source
- International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Emory University, Oxford University, and the World Bank's Living Standards Measurement Study Unit.
- Collection Method
- Developed as a streamlined measurement tool for large-scale surveys, using a counting-based methodology on indicator adequacy.
- Time Range
- null
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Developed in collaboration with country partners in Bangladesh, Guatemala, Malawi, and Nepal; intended for use in diverse rural and urban areas.