Gender, livelihood capabilities and women's economic empowerment: Reviewing evidence over the life course

This paper reviews the evaluation literature on policies and programmes designed to promote women鈥檚 livelihood capabilities

From:
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Published
10 August 2020
Document Type:
Research Paper
Theme:
Economic Growth and Social Change
First published:
8 September 2018
Authors:
Kabeer, N

Abstract

This paper reviews the evaluation literature on policies and programmes designed to promote women鈥檚 livelihood capabilities across the life course to elicit lessons for the agenda of women鈥檚 economic empowerment. It aims to answer this key question: what capabilities need to be prioritised to help girls make a successful transition to an independent and fulfilled adult life?

Empowerment encompasses many domains of women鈥檚 lives, but this paper focuses on the economic domain and women鈥檚 livelihoods. This is because the evidence shows that many of the deprivations and deficits that women experience as adults could have been averted had there been greater investment in their economic capabilities earlier in life. As capabilities cannot be measured directly, the paper focuses on changes in agency and achieved outcomes as proxy measures of impact.

This report is an output of the Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence (GAGE) programme.

Citation

Kabeer, N. (2018) Gender, livelihood capabilities and women鈥檚 economic empowerment: reviewing evidence over the life course. London: Gender and Adolescence: Global Evidence.

(PDF, 1480KB)

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Published 10 August 2020
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