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Women's Agency Scale (WAS)

The Women's Agency Scale (WAS) is a 9-item multidimensional measure of Egyptian women's agency or ability to define and act upon goals. Agency is assessed in terms of one's influence in family decisions (e.g., seeking medical treatment) and freedom of movement in public spaces (e.g., going to a friends' home).

Categories

Geographies Tested: Egypt

Populations Included: Female

Age Range: Adolescents, Adults

Items:

Who in your family usually has the final say on the following decisions?
1. Making large household purchases
2. Making household purchases for daily needs
3. Visits to friends, family or other relatives
4. What food should be cooked each day
5. Getting medical treatment or advice for yourself
6. Buying clothes for herself

Response Options:
Someone else (includes husband, in-laws, or others)
Respondent and someone else
Respondent Alone
Missing

Are you allowed to go to the following places...?
7. Local health center or doctor
8. Local health center or doctor (taking children)
9. Home of relatives or friends in the neighborhood

Response Options:
Cannot go alone
Need permission
Just inform them
Without permission
Missing

Scoring Procedures

Not Available

Original Citation

Cheong, Y. F., Yount, K. M., & Crandall, A. A. (2017). Longitudinal measurement invariance of the Women’s Agency Scale. Bulletin of Sociological Methodology/Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique, 134(1), 24-36. https://doi.org/10.1177/0759106317693787


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

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