presented by Ruth Meizen-Dick, Emily Myers and Agnes Quisumbing

1. How empowered are women in
agriculture?
Ruth Meinzen-Dick, Emily Myers, and Agnes Quisumbing
International Food Policy Research Institute

2. Empowerment in Agriculture
• Empowerment is the “expansion in people’s ability to make
strategic life choices in a context where this ability was
previously denied to them” (Kabeer, 1999, 427)
• Sustainable Development Goals – (SDG1) ending poverty,
(SDG2) hunger, (SDG3) good health and well-being for women
and children

3. Include women in
program activities
Increase women’s well-
being
Strengthen ability of
women to make strategic
life choices and to put
those choices into
action.
Reach Benefit Empower
Distinguishing Reach, Benefit, & Empower

4. Starting point: the Women’s
Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI)
• Developed by USAID, IFPRI & OPHI
• Launched in 2012
• Measures inclusion of women in the
agricultural sector
• Survey-based index - interviews
men and women in the same
household

5. The Women’s Empowerment in
Agriculture Index
Five domains
of
empowerment
(5DE)
A direct measure of
women’s
empowerment in 5
dimensions
Gender parity
Index (GPI)
Women’s
achievement’s
relative to the
primary male in hh
WEAI
WEAI is made up of two sub
indices
All range from zero to one;
higher values = greater empowerment
For more information: weai.ifpri.info

6. For more information: weai.ifpri.info
5 domains in
the original
WEAI
10 indicators:
original WEAI
6 indicators: A-
WEAI (Abbreviated
WEAI)
WEAI

7. Empowerment by Region (10 countries)
Region/country Year 5DE GPI WEAI Ranking
East Africa
Ethiopia 2013 0.68 0.87 0.70 Low
Kenya 2013 0.71 0.81 0.72 Low
Rwanda 2012–2013 0.90 0.96 0.91 High
Uganda 2012 0.85 0.92 0.86 High
West Africa
Ghana 2012 0.70 0.81 0.71 Low
Liberia 2013 0.66 0.95 0.69 Low
Senegal 2012 0.68 0.77 0.69 Low
Southern Africa
Malawi 2012 0.83 0.91 0.84 Medium
Mozambique 2013–2014 0.82 0.89 0.83 Medium
Zambia 2012 0.79 0.89 0.80 Medium
Source: Kansas State University, Department of Agricultural Economics (2014); Optimal Solutions Group (2013); Westat (2012a, 2012b, 2012c, 2013a,
2013b).
Note: 5DE = five domains of empowerment; GPI = Gender Parity Index; WEAI = Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index.

8. Identifying Sources of Disempowerment
0.00
0.05
0.10
0.15
0.20
0.25
0.30
0.35
Kenya Rwanda Uganda Ghana Liberia Malawi Zambia Average
DisempowermentIndex(1-5DE)

9. Can we measure progress? Ask Ethiopia
• Ethiopian women’s WEAI score
increased by 3%; 5DE score
increased from 0.68 to 0.71;
GPI increased 1%
• WEAI information used by:
• Ethiopian government’s National
Nutrition Program
• United Nation’s Joint Programme
on Accelerating Progress towards
the Economic Empowerment of
Rural Women in Ethiopia
0.68
0.87
0.700.71
0.88
0.72
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
0.90
1.00
5DE score GPI score WEAI score
Indexvalue(0-1)
2013 2015
↑ 3%
WEAI, 5DE, and GPI scores for Women in Ethiopia
Source: Feed the Future 2018

10. Looking Forward
• Diagnose areas of disempowerment to inform policy and
programming
• Data need to be collected regularly with similar methods
• 50 x 2030 Initiative and efforts to develop a women’s
empowerment metric for national statistical systems (WEMNS)