A report on the WYPD Socio-Economic Empowerment Index (SEEI) conceptual framework

Creating inclusive, just and transformed societies is high on the global political agenda. This much is evident in the Sustainable Development Goals and various other global policy directives advancing the need for women's empowerment and gender equality. A large body of scholarship highlights a positive correlation between gender and development (Jones and Perry, 2003; True, 2003; Esquival, 2016; Cornwall, Harrison and Whitehead, 2007). Scholars have highlighted through increased women's economic participation's positive impact on gross domestic product by prioritising women's access to education, health care, and opportunities for micro-finance for entrepreneurial activity (Jones and Perry, 2003; Cornwall, Harrison and Whitehead, 2007). Yet, for some, the notion of women empowerment is too narrowly interpreted, merely focusing on the symptoms as opposed to the root cause of gendered patterns of inequality (True, 2003; Esquival, 2016).