The Survey-based Women’s Empowerment (SWPER) Index is a country-level 15-item measure of women’s empowerment, based on items taken from 34 African nations’ Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). Three dimensions of empowerment are captured by the measure: attitudes toward intimate partner violence; women’s social independence (education and employment); and household decision making power.
Geographies Tested: Benin,Burkina Faso,Burundi,Cameroon,Comoros,Democratic Republic of the Congo,Cote d'Ivoire,Egypt,Ethiopia,Gabon,Ghana,Guinea,Kenya,Lesotho,Liberia,Madagascar,Malawi,Mali,Morocco,Mozambique,Namibia,Niger,Nigeria,Rwanda,Sao Tome and Principe,Senegal,Sierra Leone,Swaziland,Tanzania,The Gambia,Togo,Uganda,Zambia,Zimbabwe
Populations Included: Female
Age Range:
1. Beating justified if wife goes out without telling husband
2. Beating justified if wife neglects the children
3. Beating justified if wife argues with husband
4. Beating justified if wife refuses to have sex with husband
5. Beating justified if wife burns the food
Response Options:
Justified - -1
Don’t know - 0
Not justified - 1
6. Frequency of reading newspaper or magazine
Response Options:
Not at all - 0
Less than once a week - 1
At least once a week - 2
7. Respondent worked in past 12 months
Response Options:
No - 1
In the past year - 1
Have a job, but on leave past 7 days - 2
Currently working - 2
8. Woman’s education in completed years of schooling
9. Education difference: woman’s minus husband’s completed years of schooling
10. Age difference: woman’s age minus husband’s age
11. Age at first cohabitation
12. Age of woman at first birth (input for women who have not had a child)
Response Options:
Years
13. Who usually decides on respondent’s health care
14. Who usually decides on large household purchases
15. Who usually decides on visits to family or relatives
Response Options:
Husband or other alone - -1
Joint - 0
Respondent alone - 1
Higher values indicate greater empowerment
Ewerling, F., Lynch, J. W., Victora, C. G., van Eerdewijk, A., Tyszler, M., & Barros, A. J. (2017). The SWPER index for women's empowerment in Africa: development and validation of an index based on survey data. The Lancet Global Health, 5(9), e916-e923. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(17)30292-9
Psychometric Score
Ease of Use Score
Qualitative Research
Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework
Field Expert Input
Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing
Internal
Test-retest
Interrater
Content
Face
Criterion (gold-standard)
Construct
Readability
Scoring Clarity
Length