Emerge: Measurement tools for Gender Equality and Empowerment

Aims & Objectives: Measuring autonomy is an important tool to understand gender inequality and empowerment. The study measured autonomy of women in terms of their control over personal decisions, domain specific autonomy and the ability to change aspects of their life at the personal and community level. The study focused on married women from households that have middle to high income in urban areas. This exclusive focus allowed the research team to understand deeper layers of gender norms and structures that are in operation and the conditions that contribute to its strengthening or weakening among the emerging middle classes in India.

Methodology: A Relative Autonomy Index (RAI) on the basis of self‐perception and evaluation of women regarding their capacity to act autonomously was calculated. The second conceptual move in the study was regarding the ambient traits that are conducive to weakening gender norms. These characteristics were divided into three: family traits, peer groups traits and ease of conversion between social and economic capitals. The presence and absence of these traits were measured using Multiple Correspondences Analysis.

Recommendation: This project contributed to efforts at measuring women’s empowerment and gender equity. By focusing on middle and upper class women, the effort was made to address questions regarding deeper and more pervasive layers of patriarchal norms and practices to improve understanding of pathways between empowerment, agency and autonomy. The study was a step towards constructing valid and robust measures of empowerment of women that addresses the Indian context.