Women’s Representation in Community Groups’ Management

Women’s active participation in the management structures of the community-based groups is an important indicator of women’s empowerment and gender equality. The indicator therefore assesses the proportion of community groups (such as water management groups) with a minimum, pre-set percentage of actively participating female representatives.

Calculate the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

1) Pre-set the minimum percentage of actively participating female representatives the target groups should have (for example, at least 25%). As “representatives” all those within the group with a formal function and decision-making power to influence the group’s main activities can be counted. As “actively participating” all women who report that they 1) sometime express their opinions and 2) that their opinions are ‘very often’ or ‘sometimes’ taken into consideration by the other group members (see questions below) can be counted. Be realistic about setting the target percentage – some women as well as men might be shy and only rarely express their opinions.

2) For each target group, use the following methods to assess the number of male and female representatives: interviews with the group’s male and female members and review of official documents.

3) For each target group, conduct interviews with all of the female representatives:

Q1: During the meetings of this group, do you sometimes tell your opinions to other group members? 

A1: yes / no

(ask the following question only if the previous answer is “yes”)

Q2: When you tell your opinions to other group members, how often do they take them into consideration?

A2: very often / sometimes / rarely / never

If some female representatives cannot be interviewed (e.g. due to being away), ask other female representatives about the extent to which these absent representatives participate in the group’s decisions.

4) For each target group, count the number of ‘actively participating’ female representatives (= those who sometime express their opinions and whose opinions are ‘very often’ or ‘sometimes’ taken into consideration by the other group members).

5) For each target group, count the percentage of ‘actively participating’ female representatives by diving their number by the total number of group representatives (both women and men).

6) Count the number of target groups with the minimum (pre-set) percentage of actively participating female representatives (e.g. at least 25%).

7) To calculate the indicator’s value, divide the number of target groups with the minimum percentage of actively participating female representatives by the total number of surveyed target groups and multiply the result by 100.

1) The fact that a certain community group has a minimum percentage of female representatives says very little about the extent to which these women are involved in making important decisions regarding the group’s operations. That is why the indicator does not measure only the proportion of groups with a certain % of female representatives – it is the quality of their representation that matters.

2) Report separately on the proportion of groups with 1) at least XX% of female representatives; and 2) at least XX% of actively participating female representatives.