Meanings of Women’s Agency: A Case Study from Qatar on Improving Measurement in Context

Abstract

The measurement of women’s agency poses numerous challenges, including multi-dimensionality and context-specificity. This challenge is especially large for non-Western contexts that adapt measurement instruments without rigorous testing and comprehensive understanding of construct meanings in place. In this paper, we present a case study from Qatar where we investigate the face validity, comprehension and functionality of women’s agency scale items. Cognitive interviews were conducted with twenty-four women to capture their interpretations of decision-making, freedom-of-movement, and gender attitudes scale items. The majority of women originally reported that they made their own decisions; yet, further probing revealed otherwise. While women seemed to understand, as intended, the freedom-of-movement item, the items measuring gender attitudes were generally reflective of broader local societal norms rather than the women’s own opinions. This research highlights the need for deeper exploration into women’s understanding of an agency scale before its use in a new context.

Keywords:

• women’s agency
• women’s empowerment
• measurement
• scale validation
• Qatar
• Arab Middle East

ORCID

Yara Qutteina http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1211-9757

Notes

1 Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, “Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”, Measuring Empowerment: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives, ed. Narayan (2005), pp. 71–88.

2 Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s Empowerment”, Development and Change 30.3 (1999), pp. 435–64.

3 Alexander, Bolzendahl, and Jalalzai, “Introduction to Measuring Women’s Political Empowerment Across the Globe: Strategies, Challenges, and Future Research”, Measuring Women’s Political Empowerment across the Globe, ed. Alexander, Bolzendahl, Jalalzai (2018), pp. 1–26.

4 Allendorf, “Women’s Agency and the Quality of Family Relationships in India”, Population Research and Policy Review 31.2 (2012), pp. 187–206.

5 Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievements”.

6 DeVellis, “Overview”, Scale Development: Theory and Applications, ed. DeVellis (2012).

7 Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, “Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”.

8 Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievements”; Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, “Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”; Cheong, Yount, and Crandall, “Longitudinal Measurement Invariance of the Women’s Agency Scale”, Bulletin of Sociological Methodology 134.1 (2017), pp. 24–36; K.O Mason, “The Status of Women: Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Demographic Studies”, Sociological Forum 1.2 (1986), pp. 248–300; Sandberg and Rafail, “Measurement Models of Women’s Autonomy Using the 1998/1999 India DHS”, Journal of Population Research 30.4 (2013), pp. 367–81.

9 Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, “Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”.

10 Ibid., p. 74.

11 Ibid.

12 Sandberg and Rafail, “Measurement Models of Women’s Autonomy Using the 1998/1999 India DHS”; Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, “Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”.

13 Agarwala and Lynch, ““Refining the Measurement of Women’s Autonomy: An International Application of a Multi-Dimensional Construct”, Social Forces 84.4 (2006), pp. 2077–98; Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, “Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”.

14 Ibid.

15 Ibid.; Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, ““Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”.

16 Ibid.

17 Agarwala and Lynch, “Refining the Measurement of Women’s Autonomy”, p. 2079.

18 Ibid; Sandberg and Rafail, “Measurement Models of Women’s Autonomy Using the 1998/1999 India DHS”.

19 Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, “Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”.

20 Ibid; Sandberg and Rafail, “Measurement Models of Women’s Autonomy Using the 1998/1999 India DHS”.

21 Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievements”.

22 Ibid.

23 Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, “Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”; Yount et al., “Measurement of Women’s Agency in Egypt: A National Validation Study”, Social Indicators Research 128.3 (2016), pp. 1171–92.

24 Cheong, Yount and Crandall, “Longitudinal Measurement Invariance of the Women’s Agency Scale”.

25 Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, “Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”.

26 Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievements’s Empowerment”; Agarwala and Lynch, “Refining the Measurement of Women’s Autonomy”.

27 Ibid.

28 Ibid.

29 Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, ““Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”; Agarwala and Lynch, “Refining the Measurement of Women’s Autonomy”.

30 Malhotra, Schuler, and Boender, “Women’s Empowerment as a Variable in International Development”.

31 Agarwala and Lynch, Refining the Measurement of Women’s Autonomy”.

32 Ibid.; Allendorf, “Women’s Agency and the Quality of Family Relationships in India”; Ghuman, Lee, and Smith, “Measurement of Women’s Autonomy According to Women and Their Husbands: Results from Five Asian Countries”, Social Science Research 35.1 (2006), pp. 1–28.

33 Yount, “Women’s Family Power and Gender Preference in Minya, Egypt”, Journal of Marriage and Family 67.2 (2005), pp. 410–28.

34 Yount et al., “ Measurement of Women’s Agency in Egypt”.

35 Abada and Tenkorang, “Women’s Autonomy and Unintended Pregnancies in the Philippines”, Journal of Biosococial Science 44.6 (2012), pp. 703–18; Hadley, Brewis, and Pike, “Does Less Autonomy Erode Women’s Health? Yes. No. Maybe”, American Journal of Human Biology 22.1 (2010), pp. 103–10; Story and Burgard, “Couples’ Reports of Household Decision-Making and the Utilization of Maternal Health Services in Bangladesh”, Social Science and Medicine 75.12 (2012), pp. 2403–11.

36 Ghuman, Lee, and Smith, “Measurement of Women’s Autonomy According to Women and Their Husbands: Results from Five Asian Countries”; Sandberg and Rafail, “Measurement Models of Women’s Autonomy Using the 1998/1999 India DHS”; Yount et al., “ Measurement of Women’s Agency in Egypt”.

37 Yount, “Women’s Family Power and Gender Preference in Minya, Egypt”.

38 The World Bank, “GDP Per Capita (Current US $)” (2019).

39 Govt of Qatar, General Secretariat for Development Planning, Qatar National Development Strategy 2011–2016: Towards Qatar National Vision 2030 (2011).

40 The United Nations, Sustainable Development Goals website, “17 Goals to Transform Our World” (2015).

41 Govt of Qatar, General Secretariat for Development Planning, Qatar National Development Strategy 2011–2016: Towards Qatar National Vision 2030.

42 Ibid.

43 Yount et al., “Measurement of Women’s Agency in Egypt”.

44 Ibid.

45 Ericsson and Simon, Protocol Analysis: Verbal Reports as Data (1993); Willis, Cognitive Interviewing: A “How To” Guide (2015).

46 Tourangeau, “Cognitive Sciences and Survey Methods”, Cognitive Aspects of Survey Methodology: Building a Bridge between Disciplines, ed. Jabine et al. (1984), pp. 73–100.

47 Willson and Miller, “Data Collection”, Cognitive Interviewing Methodology, ed. K. Miller et al. (2014), pp. 15–33.

48 Ibid.

49 Willis, Royston, and Bercini, “The Use of Verbal Report Methods in the Development and Testing of Survey Questionnaires”, Applied Cognitive Psychology 5.3 (1991), pp. 251–67.

50 Economic Research Forum, “Egypt - Labor Market Panel Survey, ELMPS 2012” (2012); The Demographic and Health Surveys Program website, “DHS Model Questionnaires” (2015).

51 Yount et al., “Measurement of Women’s Agency in Egypt”.

52 Willis, Cognitive Interviewing: A “How To” Guide.

53 Willis and Lessler, Question Appraisal System QAS-99 (1999).

54 Ibid.

55 Yount et al., “Measurement of Women’s Agency in Egypt”.

56 Choi and Pak, “A Catalog of Biases in Questionnaires”, Preventive Chronic Disease 2.1 (2005), p. A13; Willis and Lessler, Question Appraisal System QAS-99.

57 James-Hawkins, Qutteina, and Yount, “The Patriarchal Bargain in a Context of Rapid Changes to Normative Gender Roles: Young Arab Women’s Role Conflict in Qatar”, Sex Roles 77. 3–4 (2017), pp. 155–68.

58 Schuler, Yount, and Lenzi, “Justification of Wife Beating in Rural Bangladesh: A Qualitative Analysis of Gender Differences in Responses to Survey Questions”, Violence Against Women 18.10 (2012), pp. 1177–91.

59 Ibid.

60 Ibid.; Sato, Yount and Schuler, “Familial Power and Women’s Contradictory Responses to Attitudinal Questions about Intimate Partner Violence in Rural Bangladesh”, Violence Against Women 21.10 (2015), pp. 1171–93.

61 Kågesten et al., “Understanding Factors that Shape Gender Attitudes in Early Adolescence Globally: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review”, PLOS ONE 11. 6 (2016).

62 Murphy-Berman and Berman, “Introduction”, Cross-Cultural Differences in Perspectives on the Self, ed. Murphy-Berman and Berman (2003), pp. ix–xv.

63 Ibid.

64 Ibid.

65 Park, Sha, and Pan, “Investigating Validity and Effectiveness of Cognitive Interviewing as a Pretesting Method for Non-English Questionnaires: Findings from Korean Cognitive Interviews”, International Journal of Social Research Methodology 17.6 (2014), pp. 643–58.

66 Kudela et al., “Cognitive Interviewing Versus Behavior Coding”, paper presented at American Association for Public Opinion Research, Canada (2006).

67 Pan American Health Organization, Empowerment of Adolescent Girls: A Key Process for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (2010); Morton and Montgomery, “Youth Empowerment Programs for Improving Adolescents’ Self-Efficacy and Self-Esteem: A Systematic Review”, Research on Social Work Practice 23.1 (2013), pp. 22–33.

68 Pan American Health Organization, Empowerment of Adolescent Girls.