Developing a Women’s Empowerment Metric for National Statistical Systems

Global commitment to reach Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5—achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls—is stronger than ever. But monitoring progress toward SDG5 has been challenging due to the absence of women’s empowerment metrics that can be incorporated into nationally representative and multi-topic surveys.

These surveys include international data collection efforts (e.g., the Living Standards and Measurement Study (LSMS), Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)), as well as countless national surveys administered by government ministries or agencies (e.g., national statistical offices). Integrating new women’s empowerment metrics into these surveys would provide new opportunities for documenting progress toward achieving the gender-specific dimensions of several SDGs.