Increased women's empowerment and regional inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa between 1995 and 2015

PLoS One. 2022 Sep 14;17(9):e0272909. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272909. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

Women's empowerment is a fundamental human right but attempts to measure progress in this area have been limited. We used 142 nationally representative surveys to quantify empowerment in six domains (Intimate Partner Violence, Family Planning, Reproductive Healthcare, Employment, Education, and Decision-Making) for first-level subdivisions of all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for three years (1995, 2005, and 2015). The possible value for each domain ranged between zero (worst) and one (best). The median value for employment decreased by 0.02, but it increased between 0.09 and 0.16 for the other domains. The average empowerment score increased from 0.44 to 0.53, but it remained low for Education (0.34). While progress was clear and consistent, it was uneven within and between countries, and Sahelian West Africa fell further behind. The expanded understanding of geographic variation and trends in women's empowerment that we provide should be instrumental in efforts to improve women's lives.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Africa South of the Sahara
  • Empowerment
  • Family Planning Services
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Power, Psychological*
  • Women's Rights*

Grants and funding

This work was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1099842 to RH) https://www.gatesfoundation.org, and United States Agency for International Development (AID-OOA-L-14-00006 to RH) https://www.usaid.gov/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.