Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI), by Ms. Esha Sraboni, IFPRI

1. Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index:
Results from Bangladesh
Esha Sraboni
Bangladesh Policy Research and Strategy Support Program
International Food Policy Research Institute
Workshop on
The Feed the Future Zone in the South and the Rest of Bangladesh:
A Comparison of Food Security Aspects
16 January 2013
Dhaka

2. What is Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index
(WEAI)?
• Survey based index designed to measure empowerment and
inclusion of women in the agricultural sector
• Commissioned by the US government’s Feed the Future (FtF)
initiative to track changes in women’s empowerment as a
result of their interventions
• However, it can be used more generally to assess the state of
empowerment and gender parity of women in agriculture
• The WEAI was developed by researchers at USAID, IFPRI and
Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).
The Index was piloted in Bangladesh, Guatemala and Uganda
during the latter half of 2011
• Among 19 Feed the Future countries, Bangladesh is the first to
have WEAI data representative of USAID’s Feed the Future
Zone of Influence, as well as the entire country 2

3. How is the WEAI constructed?
Five domains
of
empowerment
(5DE)
Women’s
Empowerment
in Agriculture
Index
(WEAI)
Gender parity
Index (GPI)
All range from zero to one. Higher
scores mean greater empowerment
3

4. The Five Domains of Empowerment (5DE)
Input in productive decisions
PRODUCTION Autonomy in production
Ownership of assets
RESOURCES Purchase, sale, or transfer of assets
Access to and decisions on credit
INCOME Control over use of income
Group member
LEADERSHIP
Speaking in public
Leisure
TIME
Workload
4

5. Gender Parity Index (GPI)
• Reflects the percentage of women who are as empowered as
the men in their household
• For households which have not achieved gender parity, the
GPI shows the gap that needs to be closed for women to
reach the same level of empowerment as men
• In order to calculate the 5DE and GPI, both the primary adult
male and female in a household are surveyed using the same
set of questions
5

6. Why is the WEAI innovative?
• First index to directly capture women’s empowerment in
agriculture. Does not rely on proxies such as income or
education
• The domains reveal the areas in which both women and
men are more/less empowered
• Shows whether there is an empowerment gap between
women and men in the same household
6

7. Data for constructing the WEAI in Bangladesh
• IFPRI’s Bangladesh Integrated Household Survey (BIHS) was
specifically designed to measure the WEAI
• BIHS included modules which asked detailed questions on
each of the five domains of empowerment
• The WEAI modules were implemented in the FtF zone as well
as the rest of the country
7

8. RESULTS
8

9. How many women have gender parity with the
primary male in their household?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
50% 48%
46% 45%
42%
40% 35% 35% 34% 33%
30%
20%
10%
0%
FTF BARISAL RAJSHAHI RANGPUR DHAKA SYLHET KHULNA CHITTAGONG BANGLADESH
9

10. How many women are empowered in the 5DE?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40% 34%
31%
29%
30%
23% 22% 24%
20%
20% 15%
12%
10%
0%
FTF BARISAL DHAKA RAJSHAHI KHULNA RANGPUR SYLHET CHITTAGONG BANGLADESH
10

11. WEAI for All Regions
1
0.9
0.8 0.738 0.718 0.711
0.7 0.678 0.673 0.677
0.626 0.637
0.6 0.574
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
FTF BARISAL DHAKA RAJSHAHI RANGPUR SYLHET KHULNA CHITTAGONG BANGLADESH
11

12. How does women’s empowerment in the 5DE vary
with age?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
27% 28%
30%
17% 18%
20%
8%
10%
0%
16-25 26-45 46-55 56-65 >65
AGE GROUP 12

13. How does women’s empowerment in the 5DE vary
with education?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
26% 29%
30% 23% 25% 24%
20%
10%
0%
Less than primary Primary Secondary Higher secondary University or above
LEVEL OF EDUCATION
13

14. How does women’s empowerment in the 5DE vary
with income?
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30% 26 27
24 25
18
20%
10%
0%
1 2 3 4 5
PER CAPITA EXPENDITURE QUINTILE
14

15. Which domains contribute most to
disempowerment of women?
FtF Zone Bangladesh
INADEQUACY INADEQUACY
IN TIME IN TIME
12% INADEQUACY 13% INADEQUACY
IN
IN
INADEQUACY LEADERSHIP INADEQUACY
IN
LEADERSHIP
32% IN
PRODUCTION 35%
PRODUCTION
16% 15%
INADEQUACY
INADEQUACY INADEQUACY
IN
IN INCOME IN INCOME
RESOURCES INADEQUACY
20% 15%
21% IN
RESOURCES
22%
15

16. Which indicators contribute most to
disempowerment of women in the FtF zone?
Dissatisfaction with
workload 5%
TIME
12% DISCOMFORT IN
SPEAKING IN PUBLIC 15%
LACK OF INPUT IN
PRODUCTIVE LEADERSHIP
DECISIONS 11% PRODUCTION 32% LACK OF GROUP
16% MEMBERSHIP
17%
INCOME
LACK OF 19% RESOURCES
CONTROL OVER 21%
USE OF INCOME Inadequate ownership of
19% assets 5%
16

17. How do major disempowering factors differ by
region? Comparing FtF zone and Rangpur division
FTF ZONE Lack of control over RANGPUR
use of income 19%
INCOME Lack of control over
11% use of income 11%
INCOME Lack of input in
19%
productive decisions
11% TIME Inadequate leisure 11%
16%
Discomfort in Discomfort in
PRODUCTION
speaking in public speaking in public
16% 15% 16%
LEADERSHIP
35%
LEADERSHIP
32%
Lack of group Lack of group
membership 17% membership 19%
17

18. Similarities and Differences in disempowering
factors among men and women: FtF Zone
WOMEN Lack of control over
MEN
use of income 19% Insufficient access to and
decisions on credit 12%
Lack of input in RESOURCES
INCOME
19% productive decisions
17% Dissatisfaction with
11% workload 13%
Discomfort in
speaking in public
PRODUCTION
15% TIME
16%
25%
LEADERSHIP
38%
LEADERSHIP
Lack of group
32%
membership 25%
Lack of group
membership 17% Discomfort in speaking in
public 13% 18

19. Conclusions
• A large proportion of women are disempowered relative to men
within their households
• In general, insufficient control of resources, lack of decision making
power in production and weak leadership in the community are
major factors contributing to lack of women’s empowerment
• However, policymakers must take into account regional differences
in factors contributing to lack of empowerment of women
• Different programs and policies will need to be put in place to
empower men and women alike
19

20. 20