Assessing Women Empowerment in Africa: A Critical Review of the Challenges of the Gender Empowerment Measure of the UNDP
Assessing Women Empowerment in Africa: A Critical Review of the Challenges of the Gender Empowerment Measure of the UNDP
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Date
2015
Authors
Adjei, S Baffour
Journal Title
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Publisher
SAGE
Abstract
his review discusses the religious and cultural challenges to the empow erment of women in some patriarchal societies in Africa. The article
takes a critical reflection on some of the contextual deficiencies of the
gender empowerment measure (GEM) developed by the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP) as a universal benchmark for assessing
gender inequality. It has been highlighted that agency is a necessary com ponent in the conceptualisation and realisation of women empowerment
particularly in Africa. The article further demonstrates that the GEM has
capitalist, elitist and Eurocentric biases that account for a relatively small
percentage of women in the formal sector of the African economy. The
nuances of multiple and overlapping identities of women in many African
countries that are not adequately encapsulated in the scope of the GEM
are discussed. It is thus concluded that women empowerment measures
and indicators should be sensitive to the context and values of those
it seeks to assess rather than adopting abstract mappings that tend to
reduce and universalise all women in all societies
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Citation
Adjei, S. B. (2015). Assessing women empowerment in Africa: A critical review of the challenges of the gender empowerment measure of the UNDP. Psychology and Developing Societies, 27(1), 58-80.