Measuring empowerment: Choices, values and norms

• Published in: World development Vol. 138; p. 105220
• Main Authors: Maiorano, Diego, Shrimankar, Dishil, Thapar-Björkert, Suruchi, Blomkvist, Hans
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2021; Elsevier Science Publishers; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Agency; Analysis; Caste; Decision making; Decision theory; Directing; Empowerment; Evaluation; Gender; India; Measurement; Methods; Norms; Polls & surveys; Social groups; Social norms; India; Measurement; Agency; Methods; Social norms; Empowerment
• ISSN: 0305-750X; 1873-5991; 1873-5991
• DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105220

•We present a new survey-based method to measure empowerment.•The measure takes into account the choices people make, the reasons behind such choices and the role social norms play in shaping these choices.•We construct an Empowerment score to assess empowerment levels and can be used to inform policies and design development interventions.•We test the effectiveness of the Empowerment score using original survey data from India. In this paper, we present a novel, survey-based method to measure people’s empowerment, across different domains of their lives. The method includes three elements: (i) a direct measurement of decision-making, defined as the ability to make choices; (ii) a measure of whether people have reasons to value those choices; and (iii) a measure of the role that prevailing social norms play in determining people’s ability to make strategic life choices. We build an Empowerment score that is computed using these three elements. In the second part of the paper we, first, evaluate the effectiveness of the tool, using original survey data from India. We show that using the Empowerment score makes a substantial difference compared to a simpler (and less theoretically rigorous) score based on direct measurement of decision-making only. Second, we apply the Alkire-Foster method to compute an Empowerment index that allows for comparisons of empowerment levels across locations, contexts, social groups and time. The Empowerment score has important policy applications. It can be used as a variable in policy and programme evaluations and to identify not only those who make or do not make a certain choice, but also individuals who do not value making those choices and if they might be conforming to social norms. In this way, the tool can assist in directing government attention to work with marginalised groups in making choices they want to make rather than pressing them into making choices that they do not value.