Agency and Empowerment: A Proposal for Internationally Comparable Indicators

This article proposes a short list of internationally comparable indicators of individual agency and empowerment (and the corresponding survey questions). Data from these indicators would enable researchers to explore research and policy issues such as the interconnections between empowerment and economic or human development. The paper surveys definitions of agency and empowerment and adopts the definition from Amartya Sen, supplemented by Rowlands' typology. The proposed “shortlist” of indicators includes: control over personal decisions; domain-specific autonomy; household decision-making; and the ability to change aspects in one's life at the individual and communal levels. The strengths and weaknesses of each indicator are discussed, as is the need to supplement this shortlist with other variables. To ensure the feasibility of the proposal, we rely on previously fielded questions wherever possible.

[1]  Mingming Zhou,et al.  Experiences of Autonomy and Control Among Chinese Learners: Vitalizing or Immobilizing?. , 2005 .

[2]  Sabina Alkire,et al.  Subjective Quantitative Studies of Human Agency , 2005 .

[3]  R. Sugden Commodities and Capabilities , 1986 .

[4]  S. Parveen,et al.  Empowerment of Rural Women in Bangladesh: A Household Level Analysis , 2004 .

[5]  K. Schafft,et al.  Can Anyone Hear Us?: Voices of the Poor , 2000 .

[6]  I. Brdar,et al.  Extrinsic vs. Intrinsic Life Goals, Psychological Needs and Life Satisfaction , 2006 .

[7]  Sally Baden,et al.  Gender and empowerment : definitions , approaches and implications for policy , 2000 .

[8]  N. Kabeer Reflections on the measurement of women's empowerment , 2001 .

[9]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  The structure of goal contents across 15 cultures. , 2005, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[10]  N. Kabeer Women, Wages and Intra‐household Power Relations in Urban Bangladesh , 1997 .

[11]  Edward L. Deci,et al.  Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination , 2004 .

[12]  L. Michael,et al.  Self Rated Power and Welfare in Russia , 2005 .

[13]  E. Deci,et al.  On happiness and human potentials: a review of research on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. , 2001, Annual review of psychology.

[14]  K. Miller,et al.  Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior , 1975, Perspectives in Social Psychology.

[15]  Sidney Ruth Schuler,et al.  Rural credit programs and women's empowerment in Bangladesh , 1996 .

[16]  T. K. Roy,et al.  Indicators of women’s empowerment in India , 2005 .

[17]  S. Schuler,et al.  Measuring Women's Empowerment as a Variable in International Development , 2002 .

[18]  S. Hashemi,et al.  Credit programs, women's empowerment, and contraceptive use in rural Bangladesh. , 1994, Studies in family planning.

[19]  C. Grootaert ASSESSING EMPOWERMENT IN THE ECA REGION , 2003 .

[20]  A. Sen Economics and the Value of Freedom , 1999 .

[21]  A. Sen,et al.  Inequality Re-examined , 1995 .

[22]  R. Chambers,et al.  Voices of the Poor: Crying Out for Change , 2000 .

[23]  R. Stott,et al.  The World Bank , 2008, Annals of tropical medicine and parasitology.

[24]  Amartya Sen,et al.  India: Development and Participation , 2002 .

[25]  Edward L. Deci,et al.  Autonomy, relatedness, and the self: Their relation to development and psychopathology. , 1995 .

[26]  E. Duflo,et al.  Women's Leadership and Policy Decisions: Evidence from a Nationwide Randomized Experiment in India , 2001 .

[27]  E. Deci,et al.  Self-determination theory and the facilitation of intrinsic motivation, social development, and well-being. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[28]  A. Sen,et al.  Capability and Well-Being , 1991 .

[29]  D. Naraya Voices of the poor : can anyone hear us ? , 2000 .

[30]  A. Sen,et al.  Rights and Agency , 1982 .

[31]  A. Sen,et al.  FREEDOM OF CHOICE: CONCEPT AND CONTENT , 2008 .

[32]  J. Clapp,et al.  Development as freedom , 1999 .

[33]  E. Deci,et al.  The "What" and "Why" of Goal Pursuits: Human Needs and the Self-Determination of Behavior , 2000 .

[34]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  What is satisfying about satisfying events? Testing 10 candidate psychological needs. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[35]  D. Narayan,et al.  Empowerment and Poverty Reduction: A Sourcebook , 2002 .

[36]  Duncan C. Thomas Intra-household resource allocation: an inferential approach , 1990 .

[37]  Richard M. Ryan,et al.  Cultural Context and Psychological Needs in Canada and Brazil , 2005 .

[38]  Rosario Espinal,et al.  MARKET SUCCESS OR FEMALE AUTONOMY? , 2000 .

[39]  R. Alsop,et al.  Measuring Empowerment in Practice: Structuring Analysis and Framing Indicators , 2005 .

[40]  F. Stewart Groups and Capabilities , 2005 .

[41]  M. Mather,et al.  Do Schooling and Work Empower Women in Developing Countries? Gender and Domestic Decisions in Sri Lanka , 1997 .

[42]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Concept development. , 1982, Advances in child development and behavior.

[43]  G. Sen,et al.  Women's Empowerment and Demographic Processes: Moving Beyond Cairo , 2000 .

[44]  J. Friedmann,et al.  Empowerment: The Politics of Alternative Development , 1994 .

[45]  Robert Chambers,et al.  Crying Out for Change: Voices of the Poor , 2000 .

[46]  R. Koestner,et al.  The Impact of Cultural Internalization and Integration on Well-Being among Tricultural Individuals , 2004, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[47]  Kennon M. Sheldon,et al.  Self-Concordance and Subjective Well-Being in Four Cultures , 2004 .

[48]  A. Sourcebook Empowerment and Poverty Reduction , 2002 .

[49]  Jeremy Holland,et al.  From analysis to implementation , 2020, Multi-dimensional Review of Viet Nam.

[50]  Edward L. Deci,et al.  Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior , 1975, Perspectives in Social Psychology.

[51]  Amartya Sen,et al.  Hunger and Public Action. , 1991 .

[52]  L. Mayoux FROM ACCESS TO EMPOWERMENT: GENDER ISSUES IN MICRO-FINANCE , 2000 .

[53]  S. Hashemi,et al.  The influence of women's changing roles and status in Bangladesh's fertility transition: evidence from a study of credit programs and contraceptive use , 1997 .

[54]  Amartya Sen,et al.  Democracy as a Universal Value , 1999 .

[55]  R. Ryan,et al.  Intrinsic and Extrinsic Goals: Their Structure and Relationship to Well-Being in German and U.S. College Students , 2000 .

[56]  S. Fukuda‐Parr,et al.  Development as Capability Expansion , 2003 .

[57]  M. Hindin Women's power and anthropometric status in Zimbabwe. , 2000, Social science & medicine.

[58]  N. Kabeer Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women's Empowerment , 1999 .

[59]  A. Bartlett Entry points for empowerment. , 2004 .

[60]  M. Vansteenkiste,et al.  Less Is Sometimes More: Goal Content Matters , 2004 .

[61]  R. Ryan,et al.  Parent and Teacher Autonomy-Support in Russian and U.S. Adolescents , 2001 .

[62]  S. Mosedale Towards A Framework for Assessing Empowerment , 2003 .

[63]  T. Suzuki,et al.  Standard of Living , 1969 .

[64]  Stephen F. Knack,et al.  Does Social Capital Have an Economic Payoff? A Cross-Country Investigation , 1997 .

[65]  R. Mitchell,et al.  Empowerment praxis in community coalitions , 1995, American journal of community psychology.

[66]  Herbert L. Smith,et al.  WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT AND SOCIAL CONTEXT: RESULTS FROM FIVE ASIAN COUNTRIES* , 2003 .

[67]  Christine Jackson,et al.  Rescuing Gender From the Poverty Trap , 1996 .

[68]  R. Chambers Challenging the Professions: Frontiers for Rural Development , 1993 .

[69]  C. Moser,et al.  Gender planning and development , 1993 .

[70]  A. Sen,et al.  Rationality and Freedom , 2002 .

[71]  A. Sen,et al.  Well-Being, Agency and Freedom the Dewey Lectures 1984 * , 1985 .

[72]  I. Gough,et al.  Measuring freedoms alongside wellbeing , 2007 .

[73]  Youngmee Kim,et al.  Differentiating autonomy from individualism and independence: a self-determination theory perspective on internalization of cultural orientations and well-being. , 2003, Journal of personality and social psychology.