Scaling up the collection and use of validated gender agency measures to strengthen women's economic empowerment globally
Measures for Advancing Gender Equality (MAGNET) initiative
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Global
The MAGNET initiative is a partnership between the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab (AFRGIL) and Living Standards Measurement Study (LSMS) teams, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the International Rescue Committee (IRC), and researchers at a range of academic and policy institutes, including Tufts University, KIT, Makerere University, the Asian Development Bank, the Brookings Institution and CUNEF.
MAGNET envisions a world where women's agency is accurately measured and understood across diverse contexts, enabling evidence-based policies and programs that advance gender equality and women's economic empowerment. We work globally, partnering with governments, research institutions, international organizations, and practitioners to develop, test, and promote the adoption of rigorous measurement tools.
We reaffirm our commitment to improving the measurement of women's agency as a critical foundation for gender-responsive development. We commit to encouraging NSOs and other stakeholders to scale up and adopt various MAGNET tools in national surveys and program evaluations, building capacity to collect and use agency data effectively, and contributing our evidence and methodological innovations to advance gender data globally.
Globally, there is a critical gap in how we measure women's agency: their ability to define goals, make meaningful choices, and act on decisions that shape their lives. Prior measures of women's empowerment are often validated in only one context, lack implementation best practices, or fail to capture the multifaceted nature of agency across women's control over assets, goal-setting and decision-making, and sense of control and efficacy. Without valid, context-appropriate measures of agency, we cannot adequately assess gender inequality gaps, track progress toward women's economic empowerment, or design targeted interventions that work.
Over the next 3 years (2025-28), we commit to:
1. SCALING ADOPTION OF MAGNET TOOLS. We will work with national statistical offices and other data collection stakeholders to integrate MAGNET measurement tools into household surveys and program evaluations, and make all of our tools readily available on our MAGNET Resource Center for broad-based adoption.
2. BUILDING CAPACITY FOR GENDER AGENCY DATA COLLECTION AND USE. We will develop and deliver training programs for survey practitioners, program evaluators, and data users on implementing MAGNET tools. This includes delivering online seminars and conducting workshops. We will strengthen capacity of research teams and statistical offices to adapt tools to their contexts while maintaining measurement validity.
3. ADVANCING METHODOLOGICAL INNOVATION AND EVIDENCE SHARING. We will finalize the rigorous testing of MAGNET tools across diverse populations and contexts. We will publish findings in open-access formats, share implementation experiences through the MAGNET Resource Center, and contribute to global conversations on gender data standards. We will work with partners to develop innovations such as digital/mobile-optimized tools.
Progress will be monitored through:
• Downloads of MAGNET tools from Harvard Dataverse and Resource Center
• MAGNET publications and policy briefs