Collective Empowerment and Influential Group Membership Matter for Household Food Security

OBJECTIVES: Reducing the gender gap in empowerment within households is associated with indicators of improved diet. This study developed a household-level empowerment measure and then examined its association with food security. METHODS: This analysis used baseline data from a nutrition-sensitive agriculture intervention in rural Ghana (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03869853). Only 198 of the 330 households with complete paired empowerment data for one female and one male were included. The household empowerment measure was constructed in two stages. First, the individual empowerment score was assessed using the project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI) with its 12 indicators (e.g., influential group membership, access to financial services). Participants were classified as empowered (≥75%, 9 out of 12 indicators) or disempowered (<75%). Then, the household was categorized as empowered (both members empowered; 50.5%), semi-empowered (only one member empowered; 34.9%) or disempowered (both members not empowered; 14.6%). Two of the pro-WEAI indicators were assessed also at the household level using the same technique. Food security was assessed with the 15-item Latin American and Caribbean Food Security Scale; a binary variable was created: food secure (0), food insecure (FIS; >0). Cluster-adjusted logistic regression models examined the relationship between FIS and household empowerment. RESULTS: Over half (58%) of households were FIS. Empowered compared to disempowered households had a lower odds of being FIS (aOR = 0.50, 95% CI [0.29, 0.86]). The model for influential group membership showed that empowered were less likely than disempowered households to be FIS (aOR = 0.27, 95% CI [0.13, 0.58]) while the model for access to financial services showed the opposite (aOR = 3.15, 95% CI [1.80, 5.51]). CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight the complexity of empowerment measures and support empowerment approaches that target different members of the household. FUNDING SOURCES: The Canadian Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Scholarships (QES) is managed through a unique partnership of Universities Canada, RHF, CFC, and Canadian universities. The QES-AS is made possible with financial support from IDRC and SSHRC.