Measuring Women’s Economic Empowerment: Implications for Program Design and Evaluation

Women’s economic empowerment (WEE) is central to inclusive finance, yet measuring it remains a challenge. In a new policy brief, FINCA’s Research and Data Science team shares practical lessons from customer research on women’s saving behavior in Uganda, conducted in collaboration with the BRAC Institution of Governance and Development at BRAC University. Drawing on primary data and rigorous statistical validation, the research examines how different empowerment indicators perform in capturing women’s financial behaviors, decision‑making, and outcomes.

The findings show that many commonly used WEE metrics fall short, while locally derived and context‑specific measures perform far better. The brief highlights why relying on standardized indicators can obscure important dimensions of women’s financial lives and offers actionable guidance on designing and validating measures that are more closely aligned with local realities. These insights are relevant for financial service providers, funders, and policymakers seeking to strengthen program design, impact measurement, and women‑centered financial inclusion outcomes.