Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population data
<b>Background</b>: Women's economic empowerment (WEE) has attracted high-level policy interest, and is recognized as a central, cross-cutting outcome, and the cornerstone for achieving Sustainable Development Goals. However, it lacks a standardised definition and standard, measurabl...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Demographic Research |
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| Online Access: | https://www.demographic-research.org/articles/volume/47/15 |
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| author | Eunice Williams Sabu S. Padmadas Heini Vaisanen |
| author_facet | Eunice Williams Sabu S. Padmadas Heini Vaisanen |
| author_sort | Eunice Williams |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <b>Background</b>: Women's economic empowerment (WEE) has attracted high-level policy interest, and is recognized as a central, cross-cutting outcome, and the cornerstone for achieving Sustainable Development Goals. However, it lacks a standardised definition and standard, measurable, and comparable indicators, and is plagued by large data gaps, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). <b>Objective</b>: We examine the extent of WEE in SSA. Our goal is to identify WEE country typologies explaining the variation in and contributing domains of WEE in each country. <b>Methods</b>: Using recent DHS data in 33 countries, we apply principal component analysis to generate a WEE score based on 9 indicators in order to better understand the contributors underlying this score and derive country typologies. <b>Results</b>: Overall, WEE is low but it varies markedly by country. It is typically explained by educational attainment, employment, and land ownership among women alone or in combination with men. We identified 5 typologies of WEE: (1) instrumental agency explained by high educational attainment, (2) instrumental agency explained by land ownership, (3) individual economic advancement explained by high employment rates, (4) basic-level economic empowerment, and (5) low-level economic empowerment. <b>Conclusions</b>: The level of WEE in SSA varies by country. The factors affecting the level also vary and can be divided into 5 typologies characterising the type of WEE. <b>Contribution</b>: Our results provide timely evidence for the increasing push to achieve WEE and highlight potential priority areas for policy and programme interventions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-aae76f3c733340d8bc9b3e8574bf0c74 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1435-9871 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Demographic Research |
| spelling | doaj-art-aae76f3c733340d8bc9b3e8574bf0c742025-01-04T17:36:16ZengMax Planck Institute for Demographic ResearchDemographic Research1435-98712022-09-01471541545210.4054/DemRes.2022.47.155586Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population dataEunice Williams0Sabu S. Padmadas1Heini Vaisanen2University of SouthamptonUniversity of SouthamptonInstitut National d'Études Démographiques (INED)<b>Background</b>: Women's economic empowerment (WEE) has attracted high-level policy interest, and is recognized as a central, cross-cutting outcome, and the cornerstone for achieving Sustainable Development Goals. However, it lacks a standardised definition and standard, measurable, and comparable indicators, and is plagued by large data gaps, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). <b>Objective</b>: We examine the extent of WEE in SSA. Our goal is to identify WEE country typologies explaining the variation in and contributing domains of WEE in each country. <b>Methods</b>: Using recent DHS data in 33 countries, we apply principal component analysis to generate a WEE score based on 9 indicators in order to better understand the contributors underlying this score and derive country typologies. <b>Results</b>: Overall, WEE is low but it varies markedly by country. It is typically explained by educational attainment, employment, and land ownership among women alone or in combination with men. We identified 5 typologies of WEE: (1) instrumental agency explained by high educational attainment, (2) instrumental agency explained by land ownership, (3) individual economic advancement explained by high employment rates, (4) basic-level economic empowerment, and (5) low-level economic empowerment. <b>Conclusions</b>: The level of WEE in SSA varies by country. The factors affecting the level also vary and can be divided into 5 typologies characterising the type of WEE. <b>Contribution</b>: Our results provide timely evidence for the increasing push to achieve WEE and highlight potential priority areas for policy and programme interventions.https://www.demographic-research.org/articles/volume/47/15agencydemographic and health surveys (dhs)economic growtheducationemploymentsub-saharan africawomen's economic independence |
| spellingShingle | Eunice Williams Sabu S. Padmadas Heini Vaisanen Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population data Demographic Research agency demographic and health surveys (dhs) economic growth education employment sub-saharan africa women's economic independence |
| title | Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population data |
| title_full | Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population data |
| title_fullStr | Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population data |
| title_full_unstemmed | Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population data |
| title_short | Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population data |
| title_sort | women s economic empowerment in sub saharan africa evidence from cross national population data |
| topic | agency demographic and health surveys (dhs) economic growth education employment sub-saharan africa women's economic independence |
| url | https://www.demographic-research.org/articles/volume/47/15 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT eunicewilliams womenseconomicempowermentinsubsaharanafricaevidencefromcrossnationalpopulationdata AT sabuspadmadas womenseconomicempowermentinsubsaharanafricaevidencefromcrossnationalpopulationdata AT heinivaisanen womenseconomicempowermentinsubsaharanafricaevidencefromcrossnationalpopulationdata |