The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index

Women play a critical and potentially transformative role in agricultural growth in developing countries, but they face persistent obstacles and economic constraints limiting further inclusion in agriculture.

The new Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) measures the empowerment, agency, and inclusion of women in the agriculture sector in an effort to identify ways to overcome those obstacles and constraints. The Index is a significant innovation in its field and aims to increase understanding of the connections between women’s empowerment, food security, and agricultural growth.

The WEAI is a composite measurement tool that indicates women’s control over critical parts of their lives in the household, community, and economy. It allows us to identify women who are disempowered and understand how to increase autonomy and decisionmaking in key domains. It is also a useful tool for tracking progress toward gender equality, which is one of the Millennium Development Goals.

OPHI collaborated with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) to develop the innovative index.

How will it be used?

The WEAI was developed to track the change in women’s empowerment levels that occurs as a direct or indirect result of interventions under Feed the Future, the US government’s global hunger and food security initiative. Ultimately, the Index will be used for performance monitoring and impact evaluations of Feed the Future programs.

What was OPHI’s role?

OPHI developed the WEAI from the survey data and adapted the Alkire Foster method, which underpins the Index. Feed the Future, through support from USAID, defined the five domains, provided technical input on the development of the pilot survey, and provided overall policy guidance for the Index, which was commissioned to support the monitoring and evaluation of their programs. IFPRI provided overall coordination for this project, designed and implemented the household pilot survey, and developed the individual case studies, working with in-country collaborators.