Monitoring Women’s Economic Leadership Programming: Sample Indicators and Guidance

Building on the GEM Women’s Economic Leadership Theory of Change and drawing upon the Key Dimensions of Women’s Empowerment, we will aim to critically reflect on and create good gender indicators which adequately measure and create transformative change.

Some of thekey components of addressing women’s economic empowerment are illustrated in the diagram below. As we develop projects that approach economic empowerment by working either to enhance the resources available to women or to redefine norms and institutions, we also recognize that women’s economic empowerment has many dimensions. One of the key dimensions is the context—no universal set of indicators is appropriate for every project, in every sector and in every context. Furthermore, projects may work toward advancing women economically or building women’s power and agency. In addition, economic empowerment can be addressed at different levels. The diagram outlines a few examples of complimentary interventions focussing on women’s economic empowerment whilst undertaking market-based interventions.

Given the aforementioned factors, the table below, outlines key issues for considerations that signal progress towards women’s economic empowerment.

Ability to make decisions and influence / Perception and freedom / Access to and control over resources / Support from social networks and services
  • Involvement of women in household level decisions
  • Degree of influence in community decision making
  • Participation of women in a decision-making process may not result in benefits for them
  • Ability and access for women to reach leadership positions (public office, private, enterprises)
  • Financial independence does not mean women have decision-making power or influence
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  • There are different groups of women with different needs and priorities: FHH, widows, women with young children, single women, various ethnicities/religions, etc.
  • Women doing multiple things at once
  • Care work: not often seen as work, is time consuming and restricts other activities
  • Time to pursue personal goals
  • Double burdens: interventions may generate more work
  • Opinions/Perceptions of women’s roles/position
  • Attitude to violence against women
  • Experience of violence
  • Self-confidence
  • Freedom of movement
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  • Is the income seen to belong to the woman?
  • Does a woman’s male relative have access to her income? And vice versa?
  • Sometimes women value reliability over magnitude of income – can this be prioritised if this is the case?
  • Situation of land ownership by women
  • Ownership of productive assets
  • Role in managing family budget
  • Savings
  • Access to credit, insurance
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  • Degree of social connectivity
  • Social capital
  • Participation in community groups
  • Level of support provided by groups to pursue own initiatives
  • Availability of and access to services to pursue objectives (e.g. business services with all-male staff can limit access for women)