Measuring women's empowerment : Indicators and measurement techniques

A set of indicators of women's empowerment and a composite index for measuring it is developed. Material, from journals, books and reports, were reviewed and eleven indicators of women's empowerment in the Bangladesh setting identified : mobility, decision making power, autonomy, ownership of household assets, freedom from domination, awareness, participation in public protests and political campaigns, contribution to family income, reproductive rights, exposure to information, and participation in development programmes. Under each of these indicators, a number of subindicators was considered. Composite empowerment indices were then developed to measure the overall level of empowerment of women in the context of Bangladesh. The uniqueness of this empowerment index is that it considers a wide range of empowerment indicators with appropriate weights. Composite empowerment indices have also been developed for different categories of indicators.