TY  - JOUR
A1  - Williams, Eunice
A1  - Padmadas, Sabu S.
A1  - Vaisanen, Heini
T1  - Women's economic empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from cross-national population data
Y1  - 2022/09/15
JF  - Demographic Research
JO  - Demographic Research
SN  - 1435-9871
SP  - 415
EP  - 452
DO  - 10.4054/DemRes.2022.47.15
VL  - 47
IS  - 15
UR  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol47/15/
L1  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol47/15/47-15.pdf
L2  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol47/15/47-15.pdf
L3  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol47/15/files/readme.47-15.txt
L3  - https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol47/15/files/demographic-research.47-15.zip
N2  - Background: Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) has attracted high-level policy interest, and is recognized as a central, cross-cutting outcome, and the cornerstone for achieving Sustainable Development Goals. However, it lacks a standardised definition and standard, measurable, and comparable indicators, and is plagued by large data gaps, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). 

Objective: We examine the extent of WEE in SSA. Our goal is to identify WEE country typologies explaining the variation in and contributing domains of WEE in each country. 

Methods: Using recent DHS data in 33 countries, we apply principal component analysis to generate a WEE score based on 9 indicators in order to better understand the contributors underlying this score and derive country typologies. 

Results: Overall, WEE is low but it varies markedly by country. It is typically explained by educational attainment, employment, and land ownership among women alone or in combination with men. We identified 5 typologies of WEE: (1) instrumental agency explained by high educational attainment, (2) instrumental agency explained by land ownership, (3) individual economic advancement explained by high employment rates, (4) basic-level economic empowerment, and (5) low-level economic empowerment. 

Conclusions: The level of WEE in SSA varies by country. The factors affecting the level also vary and can be divided into 5 typologies characterising the type of WEE. 

Contribution: Our results provide timely evidence for the increasing push to achieve WEE and highlight potential priority areas for policy and programme interventions. 

ER  -