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Women’s empowerment has long been a focus of major development institutions, such as the United Nations (UN), the World Bank, and the World Health Organization. The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development prioritises gender equality and women’s empowerment as key pathways to promoting human well-being. Women’s empowerment broadly refers to expanding women’s freedom of choice and action by increasing their control over resources and enhancing their agency in decision-making. This empowerment leads to significant development outcomes, such as improved human capital, poverty reduction, and enhanced self-sufficiency. Despite its central role in the global development agenda, operationalising and evaluating women’s empowerment remains a persistent challenge.

While women and girls have made notable social, political, and economic progress, they continue to face systemic marginalisation in homes and communities. Global estimates indicate that 15 million primary school-aged girls are out of school, and women hold only 25 percent of parliamentary seats worldwide. Limited access to education, healthcare, and property exacerbates the risk of poverty for women, making them more reliant on public sector support and more vulnerable to crises such as climate change.

Globally, women are disproportionately affected by poverty. Today, 1 in every 10 women (10.3 percent) is living in extreme poverty. If current trends continue, by 2030 an estimated 342.4 million women and girls—or 8 percent of the global female population—will still be surviving on less than $2.15 a day. The majority of these women, approximately 220.9 million, will reside in sub- Saharan Africa. This stark projection underscores the urgent need for targeted, gender-responsive interventions that address the structural barriers women face and create pathways toward economic independence and well-being.

Crucially, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on women’s economic empowerment across Africa. Women experienced the greatest share of job losses in hard-hit sectors like hospitality, education, and informal trade—areas where they are overrepresented. According to the Africa Gender Index, women’s economic status declined more sharply than men’s during the pandemic, exacerbating existing inequalities in income and employment. The economic aftershocks of the pandemic have had lasting consequences, pushing millions of women further into poverty and reducing their resilience to future crises.

Moreover, unpaid care and domestic work remain some of the most significant, yet invisible, barriers to women’s economic empowerment. In Africa, women perform nearly three times more unpaid care work than men—a burden that restricts their participation in formal employment, entrepreneurship, and education.

The lack of public investment in care infrastructure, such as childcare and eldercare, further reinforces these inequalities. As long as care work remains undervalued and disproportionately shouldered by women, efforts to close gender gaps in labour markets, leadership, and economic participation will fall short. Recognising, redistributing, and reducing unpaid care work is essential to unlocking women’s full economic potential.

Additionally, gender-based violence (GBV) continues to undermine women’s rights and economic empowerment. Its effects ripple across women’s lives, from deterring girls from completing their education to limiting women’s ability to pursue work or start a business. It creates fear, instability, and dependence, undermining women’s autonomy and reinforcing cycles of poverty. When women are unable to access education, engage in paid work, or control financial resources due to violence or the threat of it, their potential to contribute to and benefit from economic development is severely constrained. This not only affects individual women but also slows broader progress toward inclusive and sustainable growth.

It is also essential to recognise that women’s experience of poverty is not uniform. Many women face additional layers of discrimination due to race, ethnicity, disability, or migration status, a concept known as intersectionality. For example, Indigenous women often face legal and cultural barriers to owning land or accessing formal employment, making it difficult to break the cycle of poverty. Disabled women face additional challenges in accessing healthcare, education, and employment opportunities. Addressing the intersectionality of poverty ensures that empowerment efforts reach women from all backgrounds and effectively address their unique challenges.

Child marriage remains a barrier to women’s economic mobility and independence. Although the global rate of child marriage has decreased, it will take until 2092 to completely eradicate the practice at the current pace, perpetuating the cycle of poverty for generations. Early and forced marriages limit girls’ access to education and curtail their economic potential, making it harder for them to escape poverty.

Addressing these disparities is not only a moral imperative but also an economic necessity. Women’s economic empowerment is essential for achieving the SDGs and fostering sustainable development worldwide. For instance, empowering women farmers in sub-Saharan Africa with equal access to resources could boost agricultural productivity and alleviate food insecurity, benefiting entire communities. Furthermore, closing the gender gap in labour force participation could add as much as $28 trillion to global GDP by 2025.

These efforts also align with SDG 16, which calls for peaceful and inclusive societies by ensuring access to justice and building accountable institutions. In many regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, women face a lack of legal protection, weak judicial systems, and exploitative economic practices that perpetuate cycles of poverty and marginalisation. Dismantling these barriers is crucial for achieving gender equality and empowering women to thrive.

Eradicating poverty requires more than economic interventions—it demands a fundamental shift in how institutions operate and how societies perceive those in poverty. The African Programme on Women’s Empowerment Research (POWER), administered by the Human Capital Initiative (HCI) at the Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center (GDP Center) was founded to facilitate collaborative partnerships across multiple institutions that work on a range of issues related to women’s empowerment and well-being in selected countries. Other core partners and member institutions of the POWER consortium include the African Institute of Development Policy (AFIDEP), IDInsight, EconInsight Center for Development Research, and AidData.

POWER conducts rigorous, interdisciplinary research to explore the factors driving women’s empowerment and its effects on human well-being. The programme intends to build a body of evidence within three core areas: health and human capital, mobility and access, and sustainable social and economic empowerment. Through this work, POWER aims to establish a foundation of knowledge essential for designing effective empowerment strategies.

The African POWER Consortium will advance these goals across sub-Saharan Africa by fostering collaborative partnerships among institutions focused on women’s empowerment, gender equity, and human well-being. The consortium plans to support the formation of new partnerships and strengthen existing ones with organisations working at the forefront of research, policy, and advocacy in the region.

Addressing key challenges in women’s empowerment requires multisectoral approaches and engagements that are costly to facilitate within a single institution or organisation. By consolidating efforts across these sectors, the African POWER Consortium will enhance its ability to influence policies and programmes directly, translating research insights into actionable strategies alongside stakeholders.