In two recent virtual engagements with national statistical offices (NSOs) and gender data practitioners, the Measures for Advancing Gender Equality (MAGNET) Initiative introduced innovative measurement tools designed to capture dimensions of women's agency that have traditionally been difficult to quantify in large-scale surveys and national statistical systems. On October 21, 2025, Aletheia Donald (Senior Economist, […]
MAGNET pilots short-form versions of tools
To make agency measurement more practical and scalable, MAGNET has developed short-form versions of four tools, now being piloted across five data collections. These innovations aim to reduce respondent burden while preserving the reliability and richness of the original measures. The Critical Consciousness Scale was streamlined from 45 to 12 questions through rigorous psychometric analysis […]
MAGNET researchers present at IAFFE Conference
At the 33rd Annual IAFFE Conference on July 4, 2025, Cheryl Doss (Tufts University) presented Half of Whole or All of Half? Exploring Preferences and Understandings of Joint Property Ownership, a paper co-authored with Martina Querejeta (Universidad de la República), and Marya Hillesland (KIT institute and University of Oxford). The presentation examined how individuals conceptualize […]
MAGNET seminar explores new measures of agency in rural Kenya
Drawing on mixed methods research from rural Kenya, Marya Hillesland (gender advisor at KIT institute and visiting fellow at the University of Oxford) highlighted how traditional empowerment measures may underestimate agency when presenting the virtual seminar Deciding Not to Decide: When Is There Power in Not Deciding? on April 25, 2025. Opening remarks by Clara […]
Cheryl Doss presents MAGNET reasearch at CSDI workshop in North Macedonia
Cheryl Doss (Tufts University) presented new MAGNET research at the Comparative Survey Design and Implementation (CSDI) workshop in April 2025 in Skopje, North Macedonia. Drawing on survey research from several sub-Saharan countries and cross-country validation work, Cheryl Doss highlighted how enumerator beliefs and the definition of “ownership” can reshape measures of women’s agency during the […]
International Food Policy Research Institute