Tracking progress in rural women’s economic empowerment Ana Paula de la O Campos Social Protection Division (ESP/FAO-UN) Milan, 29 May 2015 Technical Seminar on Measuring Rural Women’s Empowerment

Why is women’s economic empowerment important for rural poverty reduction? Women make essential contributions to the rural economy of all developing country regions as farmers, laborers and entrepreneurs One fact is strikingly consistent across countries and contexts: women have less access than men to agricultural assets, inputs and services and to rural employment opportunities The gender gap imposes real costs on society in terms of lost agricultural output, food security and economic growth Thus, for achieving gender equality in agriculture and food security, empowering women – socially and economically- is needed. “An economically empowered person has both the ability and the power to make and act on economic decisions, thus being able to succeed and advance economically and to have the power and capacity to benefit from economic activities” (Golla et al., 2011).

Scarce accurate and reliable statistics Although there is global consensus that women’s empowerment – particularly in rural areas- is fundamental, the world still lacks accurate and reliable statistics This is problematic for developing clear policy responses and for monitoring the impact of policies Global “data revolution” through EDGE, AGRIS, LSMS-ISA, WEAI surveys and platforms - Rural Livelihood Monitor, Gender and Land Rights Database Focus on gender-land related statistics: Landownership is a proxy for other bundle of rights beyond land rights (property, inheritance, marriage, nationality rights) And entry point for accessing rural services: extension, financial Proposed monitoring indicators in SDGs in the Post 2015 Agenda

Gender in Agricultural Statistics FAO is working closely with the Ministries of Agriculture and Ministries of National Statistics to mainstream gender indicators relevant to the agricultural sector, including landownership, employment, and access to agricultural inputs, water and other productive resources, and re-tabulation of existing data that is not reported FAO’s Gender and Land Rights Database has been collaborating with IFPRI-PIM to develop a statistical framework on gender and land, however several challenges have emerged...

Legislation Assessment Tool For Gender- Equitable Land Tenure (LAT) To what extent does a country’s legal framework foster gender-equitable land tenure? A tool to support the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) from a legal perspective LAT targets concrete areas for improvement by identifying: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the legal framework The progress made towards gender equity in the legal framework Areas where legal reform is needed

Legislation Assessment Tool For Gender-Equitable Land Tenure 8 Clusters of Key Elements (a total of 30 qualitative indicators) 1.Ratification of human rights instruments 2.Elimination of gender-based discrimination in the Constitution 3.Recognition of women’s legal capacity 4.Gender-equality of rights with respect to nationality in property rights in inheritance in implementation, dispute mechanisms and access to justice 8.Women’s participation and leadership in national and local institutions enforcing land legislation

Legislation Assessment Tool (LAT) For Gender-Equitable Land Tenure For each 30 indicators, the LAT assigns a “step” in the process... RationaleStep Absence of the indicator in the legal framework0 A policy is being developed1 A policy is in place1.5 A draft legislation is to be submitted for deliberations2 Primary law reflects the indicator3 The indicator appears in multiple legal instruments4 Not applicableN/A

Data collection and analysis Primary data on women’s empowerment with the aim to inform Member States Development of a mixed-methods methodology for: Monitoring and Impact Evaluation Case studies Implementation of household and individual surveys, based on WEAI (Rwanda) In partnership with IFAD, implementing the WEAI survey in addition to a comprehensive household survey in Niger Qualitative research on women’s empowerment in Rwanda, Malawi and Niger Analysis of program impact evaluation data on empowerment outcomes (Lesotho, Zimbabwe)

Adapting the WEAI and other good practices to monitor empowerment Elements of Women's Economic Advancement & Women's Power and Agency Women's Economic Empowerment Elements of Economic Advancement access to health services access to education access to productive assets access to social insurance and financial services access to technology and extension services access to more productive and beneficial labor status access to better community infrastructure Elements of Power and Agency membership in rural institutions and access to social networks legal empowerment and knowledge of rights positive change in gender roles increased intrahousehold bargaining power and decision-making, and control over key household assets and income

Refine the econometric analysis of empowerment (WEAI or simplified, other proxies for empowerment) Dissemination of case study findings and information on women’s empowerment SDG indicators: an opportunity for FAO and its partners to increase the availability of gender indicators and sex-disaggregated data on agriculture Next Steps

SDGs in the Post 2015 Agenda Mainstreaming empowerment indicators: Goal 1, Target 1.4: “By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance.” “Percentage of female (and male) agricultural landowners (with legally recognized tenure) out of total agricultural landowners”, disaggregated by age groups, ethnicity and income levels

SDGs in the Post 2015 Agenda Mainstreaming empowerment indicators: Goal 5, Target 5.a: “Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws.” “The legal framework includes special measures to guarantee women’s equal rights to landownership and control”

Women agricultural holders vs. Women agricultural landowners An indicator of management, rather than ownership Captures management control over the agricultural holding (not only land, landless holdings an option) May underestimate the management role of women (HH head often considered the single holder) Generally comparable across countries (holding definition the same) Data collected infrequently (every 10 years)

Women agricultural holders vs. Women agricultural landowners Frames ownership in context of “population of interest”: landowners Data collected at individual level: reflects individual land rights Ownership definitions vary substantially across countries... Documented and self-reported ownership, joint and sole, rights on the land – depends on how survey questions are asked and country contexts

Analysis using WEAI – 5DE (Rwanda) WEAIAdequacy 5DE GPI Speakin g in public Group mem credit Own of assets Control over use of income Worklo ad Program ⱡ---(+)*** --- Program*Female Female ⱡ(-)*** Age(+)***- - Education ⱡ-(+)** --(+)*-- Married(+)** (+)*** (+)** (-)*** note: Reported average marginal effects; *** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1, ⱡ denotes dummy variable