Vanguard Women Economic Empowerment Index

Center faculty Dr. Anaise Williams paper “Vanguard Women Economic Empowerment Index”, is the first study to develop and validate an index capturing the extent to which a woman is on the vanguard of economic participation in her community. 

The proposed Vanguard WEE Index demonstrates a valid way to identify women going against the community gender norm on economic participation. This seminal work on quantitatively labeling settings as non-normative informs future studies focused on social norms measurement. Further, the provided strategy delivers critical guidance for implementing a nuanced understanding of norms and their influence on women’s economic empowerment policy and programming globally. 

Practitioners can implement a similar Vanguard WEE Index approach to understand the level at which women are transgressing the normin a large population datasetto identify vanguard women who may be uniquely placed to create change within their communities if supported and enabled.Characterizing vanguard women allows policy leaders and practitioners alike to identify this populationto monitor potential risks. WEE programming participants who are pushed by the program into activities that are non-normative may experience risks.Having a measurement strategy for identifying communities as non-normative, and subsequently women going against the norms therein, can guide practitioners in ensuring effective safeguarding systems where needed.

The paper is co-authored by Drs. Michele Decker, Lori Heise, Colleen Stuart, Nancy Perrin , and Philip Anglewicz.