The EMERGE framework to measure empowerment for health and development

Abstract

RationaleWomen's empowerment is a UN Sustainable Development Goal and a focus of global health and development but survey measures and data on gender empowerment remain weak. Existing indicators are often disconnected from theory; stronger operationalization is needed. ObjectiveWe present the EMERGE Framework to Measure Empowerment, a framework to strengthen empowerment measures for global health and development. MethodWe initiated development of this framework in 2016 as part of EMERGE – an initiative designed to build the science of survey research and availability of high-quality survey measures and data on gender empowerment. The framework is guided by existing theories of empowerment, evidence, and expert input. We apply this framework to understand women's empowerment in family planning (FP) via review of state of the field measures. ResultsOur framework offers concrete measurable constructs to assess critical consciousness and choice, agency and backlash, and goal achievement as the empowerment process, recognizing its operation at multiple levels-from the individual to the collective. Internal attributes, social norms, and external contexts and resources create facilitators or barriers to the empowerment process. Review of best evidence FP measures assessing empowerment constructs, social norms, and key influencers (e.g., partners and providers) show a strong landscape of measures, including those with women, partners, and providers, but they are limited in assessing translation of choice to agency to achievement of women's self-determined fertility or contraceptive goals, instead relying on assumption of contraceptive use as the goal. We see no measures on collective empowerment toward women's reproductive choice and rights. ConclusionThe EMERGE Framework can guide development and analysis of survey measures on empowerment and is needed as the current state of the field shows limited coverage of empowerment constructs even in areas which have received more study, such as family planning.