The inclusion of gender equality and the empowerment of gender equality and all women and girls as an explicit goal (Goal 5) within the Sustainable Development Goals, reflects the fact that, over the past 20 years, progress has been achieved but more slowly than desirable and at an uneven pace, with large differences between and within countries, especially in different wealth groups.1

To overcome the lack of comparable individual-level measures, the Survey-based Women’s Empowerment Indicator (SWPER, pronounced super) was proposed in 2017, initially for countries in Africa. 2 The SWPER allows the assessment of empowerment at individual level and enables within-country and between-country comparisons, as well as analysis of time trends, which no other previously available indicator offers.

A global version of the SWPER is being developed, which will allow the use of the indicator in low and middle-income countries from all world regions. However, in the LAC region, women’s empowerment clearly has its specificities. 3 It was therefore crucial to count upon regional expertise to adapt the SWPER to develop a powerful empowerment indicator relevant to the realities of women’s empowerment in the region of the Americas.

Thus, a three-day workshop was held at Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) headquarters in Washington DC, 11-13 July 2018, with the participation of 15-20 experts from PAHO, the ICEH group, and other agencies and universities. The workshop was organized by the Office for Equity, Gender and Cultural Diversity (EGC) and the Latin American Center of Perinatology, Women and Reproductive Health (CLAP) of the PAHO in collaboration with the Countdown to 2030 LAC Regional Network (Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil).

During the three days we have had a comprehensive discussion about the SWPER with respect specificities of women’s empowerment in the LAC region. As a result, the Expert Group agreed upon a few adjustments to SWPER that might be made based upon key aspects of women’s empowerment in the LAC region and data availability from national surveys. The main recommendation from the Expert Group were:

1. The explicit use of a conceptual framework to guide the development of the SWPER
2. Use of other sources of data, including DHS and other survey-based available information.
3. Flexibilization of the SWPER when some of the items that compose the index are not available. For example, the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) do not include any information on women’s participation in household decisions, however data on the other SWPER domains are available and should not be discarded.
4. The integration of unpartnered women in the indicator, as in LAC there is a large proportion of women in reproductive age that are not married or living with a partner that should not be overlooked.
5. Adjust and refine the SWPER domains with the addition of variables to related to sexual and reproductive autonomy; decision-making on the use of the woman’s income (replacing the variable related to weather the woman worked in the last 12 months); type of employment (formal or informal); ownership of land or house; and access to technology, as mobile phones.
6. As some specificities are still overlooked with the SWPER, specific measures may be needed in the future for specific populations, as indigenous women.

 

The next steps with the assessment of the applicability of the SWPER for all low- and middle-income country will take all these recommendations into account.

 

References

1.         World Economic Forum. The Global Gender Gap Report. World Econ. Forum. Geneva; 2017.

2.         Ewerling F, Lynch JW, Victora CG, van Eerdewijk A, Tyszler M, Barros AJDD. The SWPER index for women’s empowerment in Africa: development and validation of an index based on survey data. Lancet Glob Heal. The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license; 2017;5(9):e916–23. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30292-9.

3.         Cruz AC, Noriega M, Garduño M de los Á. Trabajo remunerado, trabajo doméstico y salud: las diferencias cualitativas y cuantitativas entre mujeres y varones. Cad Saude Publica. SciELO Public Health; 2003;19(4):1129–38.

 

 

In the picture, in the back from the left to the right:

Laura Cuevas (PAHO), Susana Martinez-Restrepo (Core Woman), Isiuawa Iyahen (UN Women), Ana Langer (Harvard), Fernanda Ewerling (ICEH), Gerardo Zamora (WHO), Mabel Bianco (Fundacion de la Mujer), Albert Motivans (Equal Measures 2030), Anna Coates (PAHO), Carmen Diana Deere (University of Florida), Aluísio Barros (ICEH), Claudia Patricia Henriquez (PAHO consultant), Maite Antelo (PAHO)

In front: Catharina Cuellar (PAHO), Lilia Jara (PAHO), Tarsila Rivera (Charapaq), Susan Papp (Women Deliver).