Women Empowerment Index for Africa: Measuring the Different Dimensions

Women Empowerment Index for Africa: Measuring the Different Dimensions | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Women Empowerment Index for Africa: Measuring the Different Dimensions Anjdilee Taka, Verena Tandrayen Ragoobur This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5628378/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The study measures the state of women empowerment in sub Saharan Africa. Various dimensions of women empowerment are analysed in terms of social, economic, psychological, legal and political. The Women Empowerment Index (WEI) is built through a combination of 37 indicators. Using data for 26 countries from 2008 to 2020, the Arithmetic Mean and the principal component analysis methodology is adopted to produce a joint indicator of women empowerment for sub Saharan Africa. Countries are classified into different categories of women empowerment that is into those having low, medium, and high WEI. The outcomes show that women in most sub-Saharan African countries face several issues across the four dimensions due to reduced assets available to them and the high level of poverty within the societies. The study extends on the existing conceptual framework of Asaolu et al. (2018) by considering additional dimensions such as the psychological, legal, and political spheres of empowerment. The results are in line with the Global Gender Gap index and covers more dimensions of women empowerment. The research comes forward with specific policies to promote women empowerment across African countries. Development Economics Policies Principal Component Analysis Sub Saharan Africa Women Empowerment Index Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5628378","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":389332452,"identity":"321cc7ed-a841-4e9d-820b-66792547f4f1","order_by":0,"name":"Anjdilee Taka","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA5UlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYHCCBImEAhs7NobDBxgYG4jWYpCWzM94LIFoLQwSDAaHGWc2nzEgTgv/7IaHNx4YMDMbHDvzTeLnDhs5BvbDRzfgteHOgWSLBAM2PoMzZ7dJ9p5JM2bgSUu7gdeaGwlpQL/wMBvcOLtNgrftcGKDBI8ZXi3yEC0SjBvuv3km+ZcYLQYQLQaMMxvOsEkTZYvhjQSQXxKS+RmOGVvLtqUZsxHyi9yNnMSbPyr+g6Ly4c23bTZy/OyHj+H3PgNPAozFIgEi2fArBwH2AzAW8wfCqkfBKBgFo2AkAgB8fk/mxEAqlAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-4416-5054","institution":"University of Mauritius","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Anjdilee","middleName":"","lastName":"Taka","suffix":""},{"id":389332453,"identity":"c3a7b8f8-8b44-4a35-a5bd-825584f3dcf9","order_by":1,"name":"Verena Tandrayen Ragoobur","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Mauritius","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Verena","middleName":"Tandrayen","lastName":"Ragoobur","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-12-12 05:14:11","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5628378/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5628378/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":71287489,"identity":"50cc7964-60ea-4c9e-9766-c7c53b64701f","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-12-13 02:23:49","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":451524,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"AnnonymousManuscriptWEIAnjdileeTAKA01Oct2024.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5628378/v1_covered_f7982999-31e5-42d8-a7e2-51c74ebea309.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWomen Empowerment Index for Africa: Measuring the Different Dimensions\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"University of Mauritius","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Policies, Principal Component Analysis, Sub Saharan Africa, Women Empowerment Index","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5628378/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5628378/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe study measures the state of women empowerment in sub Saharan Africa. 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