WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION: �MICRO EVIDENCE FOR SUB SAHARAN AFRICA� �

Anjdilee TAKA

MPhil/PhD student

My Bio Data

• Name: Anjdilee TAKA
• Address: Reservoir Road, Allee Brillant, Castel
• Telephone :59182414
• Email:anjdilee.taka@umail.uom.ac.mu

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BRIEF

Anjdilee TAKA is actually an MPhil/Phd student at the University of Mauritius. She holds a BSc(Hons) in Economics and an MSc in Financial Economics from the University of Mauritius. Her research focuses on development economics namely women empowerment and poverty.

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Presentation Outline

• Background
• Introduction
• Objectives
• Dimensions of Women Empowerment
• Poverty Measures
• Methodology
• Expected Results
• Policy Implications and Conclusions

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BACKGROUND

• Women faces of poverty in Sub Saharan Africa(SSA)
• Poverty is still very much present
• Empowerment of women is an essential precondition for poverty alleviation (Uzoamaka, Nebo and Jude, 2016).

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INTRODUCTION

• Existing studies have examined the role of women empowerment on poverty reduction, economic development and growth.

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• The prevailing evidence adopts either a macro perspective of women’s empowerment and poverty or is country specific

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INTRODUCTION

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• Current studies fail to consider fundamental aspects of women empowerment based on their autonomy, rights and participation in decision making at the household level

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OBJECTIVES

• Conceptualise empowerment of women in the African context
• Analyse the different dimensions of women empowerment in SSA
• Devise policy options for countries within sub Saharan Africa in particular, to improve the status of women
• Investigate causal link between women empowerment with poverty reduction in the region

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INCREASED WOMEN EMPOWERMENT

WOMEN HAVE GREATER CONTROL OVER DECISION MAKING IN HOUSEHOLDS,BETTER MOBILITY AND ACCESS TO ECONOMIC RESOURCES

POVERTY REDUCTION

INCREASED LABOUR FORCE PARTICIPATION,PRODUCTIVITY AND EARNINGS

INCREASED STANDARD OF LIVING,BETTER HEALTH AND EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT

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Dimensions of Women Empowerment

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Poverty Measures�

Multi-dimensional approach of poverty

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• Education levels
• Health
• Living standards

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Methodology

• Micro data from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) for 26 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2008 to 2018
• DHS cover between 5,000 to 30,000 households and are conducted every 5 years to allow comparisons over time
• The population is divided into different groups based on characteristics such as age, occupation, education level and location of the respondent
• The sampling strategy will further consider women eligible for the survey of reproductive age 15-49, the specific regions where they live that is urban / rural, marital status, the level of education and occupation.

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Results�

• The Principal Component Analysis is applied to produce a combined indicator of women empowerment for Sub Saharan Africa.
• A total of 37 indicators across different dimensions are used to analyse women empowerment.
• The findings indicate that women in most Sub Saharan African countries lack empowerment within the dimensions analysed because of poor resources made available to them and the high level of poverty within the communities.

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Results

• There is thus evidence to extend the existing women empowerment analysis and policy making to embrace the major constraints hindering empowerment among women in Sub Saharan Africa.

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Expected Results

• Establish a causal relationship between women empowerment and poverty reduction in SSA

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Policy Implications and Conclusions�

• Provide information for better policy formulation by the state, private institutions and non-governmental actors by disaggregating the various channels towards poverty reduction in relation to women’s empowerment.
• The results will help to design policies and programs to reduce feminisation of poverty and improve the living of women in Sub Saharan Africa.

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Thank you

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