As we begin to explore years of data on women’s empowerment from the World Bank and United Nations, we want to ask the question: Do countries that significantly improve the status of women also see lower rates of stunting? Women are the primary caregivers in the family. Research from countries around the world has shown that when women are empowered to earn more and have a greater say in home finances, they are more likely than men to invest the additional money in promoting the welfare of their children — through nutritious food, for example. In this project, Bread for the World Institute is interested in exploring whether and where women’s empowerment is associated with improvements in stunting and, if so, over what period of time. The answer to the question of whether the two indicators coincide is most likely to be “sometimes yes, sometimes no.”

Data and background information can be found in the “Challenge 2″ in this Google drive folder.

Cleaned IFPRI Data

Cleaned Female Stunting Data

Cleaned Male Stunting Data

Cleaned Female Stunting Data (updated)

Cleaned Male Stunting Data (updated)

Final Cleaned Full Data (updated)

Final Data Cleaned again

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New research shows that even the most advanced current efforts to gauge women’s empowerment still miss critical elements of what it takes for women to be empowered in the developing world. Far too many of the indicators used to measure women’s empowerment, for far too many countries, are based on data that is largely unreliable, old, or inconsistent. This compromises the accuracy and integrity of the assessments and makes them less reliable for policy makers who base decisions on them. In its upcoming 2015 Hunger Report, Bread for the World Institute will identify key missing data and explain why better data are essential to continued progress.

Data and background information can be found in the “Challenge 1″ in this Google drive folder.

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