Measuring Empowerment in Practice: Structuring Analysis and Framing Indicators

By R. Alsop, Nina Heinsohn. 2005

655 citations recorded by the source corpus.

This paper presents an analytic framework that can be used to measure and monitor empowerment processes and outcomes. The measuring empowerment (ME) framework, rooted in both conceptual discourse and measurement practice, illustrates how to gather data on empowerment and structure its analysis. The framework can be used to measure empowerment at both the intervention level and the country level, as a part of poverty or governance monitoring. The paper first provides a definition of empowerment and then explains how the concept can be reduced to measurable components. Empowerment is defined as a person's capacity to make effective choices; that is, as the capacity to transform choices into desired actions and outcomes. The extent or degree to which a person is empowered is influenced by personal agency (the capacity to make purposive choice) and opportunity structure (the institutional context in which choice is made). Asset endowments are used as indicators of agency. These assets may be psychological, informational, organizational, material, social, financial, or human. Opportunity structure is measured by the presence and operation of formal and informal institutions, including the laws, regulatory frameworks, and norms governing behavior. Degrees of empowerment are measured by the existence of choice, the use of choice, and the achievement of choice. Following the conceptual discussion and the presentation of the analytic framework, this paper illustrates how the ME framework can be applied, using examples from four development interventions. Each example discusses how the framework guided analysis and development of empowerment indicators. The paper also presents a draft module for measuring empowerment at the country level. The module can be used alone or be integrated into country-level poverty or governance monitoring systems that seek to add an empowerment dimension to their analysis.

Subfields: Business and International Management, Safety Research, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cf8dec443702001683a89166f832de5568074a79

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Citations in the corpus

Women ’ s economic empowerment and inclusive growth : labour markets and enterprise development (2012, background): “Dolan, C. (2001) ‘The good wife’s struggle over resources in the Kenyan horticultural sector’ The Journal of Development Studies Vol. 37 (3): 39-70 Dolan, C. (2004) ‘”I sell my labor now”: Gender and livelihood diversification in Uganda’ Canadian Journal of Development Studies Vol. XXV (4): 644-661 ”
Entrepreneurship Education in a Poverty Context: An Empowerment Perspective (2019, background): “…Sun et al. 2012), in risky and uncertain situations (Spreitzer 1996, 2008), in resourcefulness conditions (Spreitzer 1995), in poverty contexts (Alsop and Heinsohn 2005; Narayan-Parker 2002), where perseverance 9SANTOS, NEUMEYER, AND MORRIS and resilience are necessary (Deci and Ryan 1987),…”
Impacts of Rural Women’s Traditional Economic Activities on Household Economy: Changing Economic Contributions through Empowered Women in Rural Pakistan (2020, result): “The reported activities of the respondents consistent with those from Alsop and Heinsohn [39], Ibraz [40], and Sarwar et al.”
What does it Mean to Make a ‘Joint’ Decision? Unpacking Intra-household Decision Making in Agriculture: Implications for Policy and Practice (2020, background): “…used as one of the components to assess women’s empowerment and refers to the ability of one person to exert influence over another during a negotiation process (Alsop & Heinsohn, 2005; Doss, 1996; Ibrahim & Alkire, 2007; Kabeer, 1999; Malhotra, Schuler, & Boender, 2002; Narayan-Parker, 2005).”
The Empowerment Route to Well-being: An Analysis of Farmer Field Schools in East Africa (2012, background): “Despite the lack of robust data (Alsop & Heinsohn, 2005), empowerment is increasingly seen among donors and development actors as a major contributor to development outcomes (World Bank, 2002; Narayan, 2005).”
Agency and Empowerment: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators (2007, neutral): “59 For further indicators on empowerment in the social domain, see Alsop & Heinsohn (2005) and Alsop et al., (2006).”
Measuring Women’s Empowerment: A Critical Review of Current Practices and Recommendations for Researchers (2017, background): “For instance, many studies do not use theory in their conceptualization of empowerment (Alsop and Heinsohn 2005) and selection of indicators (Kabeer 1999).”
Gender, assets, and agricultural development programs: A conceptual framework: (2011, background): “8 There is a growing literature on the measurement of empowerment (see Kabeer 1999; Alsop and Heinsohn 2005); the most recent studies attempt to develop multidimensional indices because empowerment is a multidimensional concept. See, for example, Ibrahim and Alkire (2007).”