The DOI matches its Crossref record; 33 of the 33 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women’s empowerment.
Abstract
This paper begins from the understanding that women's empowerment is about the process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic life choices acquire such an ability. A wide gap separates this processual understanding of empowerment from the more instrumentalist forms of advocacy which have required the measurement and quantification of empowerment. The ability to exercise choice incorporates three inter‐related dimensions: resources (defined broadly to include not only access, but also future claims, to both material and human and social resources); agency (including processes of decision making, as well as less measurable manifestations of agency such as negotiation, deception and manipulation); and achievements (well‐being outcomes). A number of studies of women's empowerment are analysed to make some important methodological points about the measurement of empowerment. The paper argues that these three dimensions of choice are indivisible in determining the meaning of an indicator and hence its validity as a measure of empowerment. The notion of choice is further qualified by referring to the conditions of choice, its content and consequences. These qualifications represent an attempt to incorporate the structural parameters of individual choice in the analysis of women's empowerment.
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In the citing paper
“These outcomes are consistent with empowerment theory, which posits that access to resources, agency, and achievements are central to women ' s empowerment processes”
From The Role of the Parish Development Model in Promoting Rural Transformation and Women's Financial Empowerment in Uganda: A Systematic Review (2026) · cites this paper as Kabeer, 1999
In the citing paper
“Naila Kabeer (1999), who defined empowerment as 'the expansion in people's ability to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied to them' [31].”
From Water, sanitation, and women’s empowerment: A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis (2022) · cites this paper as [31]
Citations
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Self-citationRural credit programs and women's empowerment in Bangladesh
Hashemi, S., Schuler, S. R., & Riley, A. P. (1996) · World Development · doi:10.1016/0305-750x(95)00159-a · Cited by 1,345
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Kabeer, N. (2005) · Gender & Development · doi:10.1080/13552070512331332273 · Cited by 2,164
Self-citationWorld Development Report 2012: Gender equality and development
Wong, Y.-N. (2012) · Forum for Development Studies · doi:10.1080/08039410.2012.722769 · Cited by 1,457
Conflicts Over Credit: Re-Evaluating the Empowerment Potential of Loans to Women in Rural Bangladesh
Kabeer, N. (2001) · World Development · doi:10.1016/s0305-750x(00)00081-4 · Cited by 1,114
Self-citationThe Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index
Alkire, S., Meinzen-Dick, R. S., Peterman, A., Quisumbing, A. R., Seymour, G., & Vaz, A. (2013) · World Development · doi:10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.06.007 · Cited by 1,109
Whose Voices? Whose Choices? Reflections on Gender and Participatory Development
Cornwall, A. (2003) · World Development · doi:10.1016/s0305-750x(03)00086-x · Cited by 804
Metadata
- Authors
- Kabeer, N.
- Affiliations
- University of Sussex (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Kabeer, Naila
- ORCID
- Kabeer, Naila
- Venue
- Development and Change
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1999-07
- Volume
- 30
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 435-464
- ISSN
- 0012-155X (ISSN-L)
- 1467-7660
- OpenAlex
- W2117701253
- Cited by
- 4,976
- References
- 33
- Citations by year
- 2026: 671 · 2025: 511 · 2024: 397 · 2023: 412 · 2022: 349 · 2021: 356 · 2020: 274 · 2019: 287 · 2018: 231 · 2017: 205 · 2016: 165 · 2015: 188 · 2014: 173 · 2013: 138 · 2012: 123
- FWCI
- 58.34
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Development and Change (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Gender, Education, and Development Issues
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Income, Poverty, and Inequality
- Keywords
- women's empowerment, empowerment measurement, empowerment indicators, agency, resources, achievement, choice, well-being outcomes
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