A new way to measure women’s and girls’ empowerment in impact evaluations
Women make up half the world’s population, but just 12 percent of the world’s heads of state and government. This disparity underscores a persistent reality in the 21st century: Despite steady advances in women’s rights in recent decades, gender norms and biases continue to constrain human potential around the world. A growing number of policymakers believe that investing in women and girls’ empowerment can reduce these and other gender-based inequalities. The United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 5, for example, seeks to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. Increasing empowerment is also seen as a promising strategy to unlock greater economic growth in low- and middle-income countries. In order to design effective policies and programs, however, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners must be able to accurately measure women’s and girls’ empowerment. A new research resource from MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) addresses this challenge. Co-authored by Rachel Glennerster, chief economist at...