Empirical Empowerment: how methods of evaluating women’s empowerment shape understanding of agricultural and nutritional development in Busoga, Uganda

Since the widespread adoption of gender mainstreaming within international development programming, there has been strong demand for standardised methods of measuring women’s empowerment; however, there is not yet consensus on best practices. This research critically examines an increasingly popular tool, the Abbreviated Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index (AWEA Index) and its applications in agricultural and nutritional development research and practice. Drawing on empirical mixed-methods data from Busoga, Uganda, this research closely inspects the technical details of the AWEA Index’s construction as well as its conceptual assumptions and assesses its overall suitability for reflecting the lived experiences of Basoga women. The results suggest that the Index may be better suited for measuring resilience in agriculture, rather than empowerment. The AWEA Index and its variations have also been used to investigate pathways between women’s empowerment and children’s nutrition outcomes. This research applies these established methods of analysis to the data from Busoga and juxtaposes the results against a reproductive justice framework. Results suggest that the latter provides a more robust theoretical foundation for nuanced understanding of the complex relationships between women’s empowerment and children’s nutrition. In an effort to provide practical recommendations to future international development interventions, this research also synthesises the findings on women’s empowerment in agriculture and nutrition, identifying intersections between all three objectives, and flagging points of potential conflict. This includes a proposed conceptual framework and method for designing international development interventions based on analysis of women’s time use, labour roles, and life-course narratives. This research presents a critical analysis of dominant theories of women’s empowerment in international development, and demonstrates the advantages of alternative approaches, proposing tangible tools for future development programming. In doing so, this research directly confronts the persistent challenge of evaluating women’s empowerment across diverse contexts.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

phd

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

University of Greenwich

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Varley, Gwendolyn Grace

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Martin, Adrienne
• Wellard, Kate
• Forsythe, Lora

• S Agriculture (General)

Language dc:language

en