ABSTRACT
This chapter situates the research alongside the measurement systems to which it is indebted, and conversely, sets it against the methods that they set out to supplant. The chapter then discusses the shift towards more multidimensional ways of assessing the success and failures of policy interventions, centred on rising inequalities where women and girls are severely disadvantaged by income poverty and broader areas of discrimination. The chapter then turns to the ‘explanatory force of wellbeing approaches’ that are based on intent to tackle lack of affordable access to resources and power. This introduces the problem of power imbalance in relation to autonomy or agency. The chapter continues by investigating ‘the search for indicators’ based on the necessity for complex measurements encompassing sub-indicators that enable identification and analysis of pressure points such as voice, decision-making and human rights – all by gender differences. The concluding section covers contexts in the search for indicators. This analysis implies the importance of assessing the possible range of different people’s responses to challenges of wellbeing and resistance to traumas they encounter. In turn, this raises the importance of considering how responses to survey questions that investigate empowerment/dignity have the potential to become wrapped in sentiments of honour and duty.
