discussion paper

The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index

by Sabina Alkire,
Ruth Suseela Meinzen-Dick,
Amber Peterman,
Agnes R. Quisumbing,
Greg Seymour and
Ana Vaz
Open Access
Citation
Alkire, Sabina; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; Peterman, Amber; Quisumbing, Agnes R.; Seymour, Greg and Vaz, Ana. 2012. The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1240. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute. http://ebrary.ifpri.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15738coll2/id/127346

The Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) is a new survey-based index designed to measure the empowerment, agency, and inclusion of women in the agricultural sector. The WEAI was initially developed as a tool to reflect women’s empowerment that may result from the United States government’s Feed the Future Initiative, which commissioned the development of the WEAI. The WEAI can also be used more generally to assess the state of empowerment and gender parity in agriculture, to identify key areas in which empowerment needs to be strengthened, and to track progress over time.