EMPOWER · Women’s Economic and Psychological Empowerment

Women’s Economic and Psychological Empowerment

Comprehensive gender data related to agency are crucial for tracking progress in promoting gender equality, yet reliable measurements are still a challenge and are understudied. Existing measures, such as measuring self-efficacy or control over assets alone, do not fully capture the diverse nature of women’s agency, including understanding the transformative processes that take place in agency building. Understanding the nuanced challenges that women face in exercising agency is crucial for designing effective interventions and policies that empower women to realize their full potential and participate more equitably in society. Social norms often dictate traditional gender roles, placing a greater burden of caregiving and domestic responsibilities on women. This unequal distribution of responsibilities can limit women’s time, energy, and freedom to pursue their own goals and aspirations. Moreover, patriarchal structures within institutions further exacerbate disparities in agency. For example, limited access to resources like land and financial capital can restrict women’s economic independence and decision-making power. Additionally, gender-based violence, whether physical, emotional, or economic, creates a climate of fear and insecurity that can severely constrain women’s ability to assert their agency and make autonomous choices. As a result of these systemic barriers, women’s agency is often constrained or constrained in ways that differ from men. When opportunities for improvement arise in their lives, such as access to education, employment, or leadership roles, women may not always recognize or seize these opportunities due to their circumstances. They may internalize societal expectations and gendered norms, doubting their own abilities or feeling obligated to prioritize familial or societal expectations over their own aspirations. To be able to understand the progress of on programming or policies on agency as a gender equality outcome, we need reliable and validated indicators and measures that incorporate the complex challenges that women face in building their agency. The Women’s Psychosocial Agency Framework is a comprehensive approach to measuring agency that can be applied across programming and policy design for gender equality.

Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз