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Research conducted and analyzed by the Organization for Women in Self Employment (WISE).
Summary written and compiled by Coady Institute.
We would like to acknowledge and thank the SACCO members, community, and partners who participated in this study – especially those who shared their personal experiences and stories with vulnerability and courage.
This study is part of the Engage: Women’s Empowerment and Active Citizenship project and is funded by Global Affairs Canada.
For more information about the research and the report, please contact: Organization for Women in Self Employment (WISE), engage@wiseethiopia.org
Assessment of Women’s Economic Empowerment and Domestic Violence
The Case of WISE SACCO’s
ACRONYMS
AWIB Association of Women in Boldness
GBV Gender-Based Violence
SACCOs Savings and Credit Cooperatives
UN United Nations
WEE Women’s Economic Empowerment
WISE Organization for Women in Self-Employment
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report is an abridged summary of a research project undertaken by Women in Self Employment (WISE) in 2024. WISE is a partner organization in the five-country project Engage: Women’s Employment and Active Citizenship (2019-2026). Key areas of work WISE is conducting through this initiative are: community engagement through savings and credit cooperative organizations (SACCOs), building the capacity of local organizations, and undertaking research to build knowledge and identify innovative practices. WISE’s interventions serve as a bridge to women’s holistic development through expanded training and support for women’s psycho-social well-being.
Gender-based violence is a persistent threat to women’s empowerment in Ethiopia, as it is globally. Therefore, WISE developed a mixed-methods study to investigate the extent to which WISE SACCOs play a role in reducing domestic violence. In other words, WISE sought to explore the relationship between enhancing women’s economic empowerment and their experiences of domestic violence.
The quantitative findings found that women in WISE SACCOs, measured on a 10-point economic empowerment index, have a significantly higher index (0.87) compared to a control group of women who are not in WISE SACCOs (0.65 on the index). The study also found that while 40% of the control group encounter medium to high levels of physical abuse, only 6.7% of WISE SACCO members encounter medium to high levels of physical abuse.
The key contributing factors to women’s economic empowerment in WISE SACCOs are multiple training, self-determination and life balance, access to savings and loans, different awards in competitions, and follow-up from WISE. The study indicated that women’s engagement in WISE SACCOs enhances women’s economic empowerment and decreases domestic violence. As a result of SACCO participation, women are more likely to access savings and loans, generate greater income, increase their decision-making power, and venture into new businesses.
Qualitative analysis revealed two significant factors that aggravate domestic violence among respondents: women’s economic dependency and the persistence of patriarchal attitudes among both men and women. The findings indicated that WISE interventions have a significant role in women’s social and economic empowerment, and as a result, the bargaining power of women increases through time due to the low prevalence of domestic violence evidenced in this study.
ETHIOPIA, WOMEN IN SELF-EMPLOYMENT (WISE), SACCOS, AND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE
In Ethiopia, the rate of violence against women is 37% (lifetime) and 27% in the recent past (WHO, 2018). Over two-thirds (68%) of Ethiopian female youth aged 20 to 24 are unemployed, and employment opportunities are primarily in low-paid and informal sectors (UN Women Africa, 2024). As women are less than half of the workforce, they are also underrepresented in labour associations and unions. This limits opportunities for women’s voices to be included in formal negotiations and policy discussions. Women and girls in Ethiopia are highly unlikely to be afforded equal rights and opportunities, which increases their vulnerability to political exclusion and gender-based violence. Despite numerous efforts by the Ethiopian State to address women’s inequality, the significant burdens of women’s inequality, unpaid care work, lack of opportunities in education and economic participation persists (Gudeta Gerba et al., 2024).
The Organization for Women in Self-Employment (WISE) is an Ethiopian charity that works with underprivileged, low-income, underemployed, and unemployed women and girls working in homebased production, micro-scale enterprise or trading activities. Primarily focused on urban poverty, WISE envisions a nation where absolute poverty is eradicated and women actively participate in national development. Founded in 1997, WISE programs have impacted the lives of over 56,000 families in Addis Ababa directly and 46,000 families in other cities of Ethiopia coordinating with its partners (AWIB, 2024).
SACCO Approach for Financial Inclusion and Gender Equality
A core approach of WISE is organizing women and girls in Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs) and providing them with micro-financing through a financial inclusion approach. WISE designs and implements training programs relevant to member needs. WISE’s SACCOs are the main intervention mechanism being undertaken as a primary vehicle for achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace, and the community. The SACCOs are formed in local communities, following a period of outreach and canvassing in community. Each SACCO is an independently registered organization in compliance with Ethiopian law and comprises of 300 to 1500 members, each of whom has a minimum savings rate they must reach monthly.
WISE provides seed funding for each SACCO, which offers initial capital for loans to members. It is not a means of cash transfer. WISE promotes women to be organized, owners of their own businesses, and financed through microfinance interventions. Additionally, WISE builds the capacity of women by organizing them into SACCOs and ensuring that women and girls can access support through the women’s affairs office, facilitating legal services, and following up on cases of GBV. A major focus is a series of basic trainings, which every new member must take, on business skills, life skills such as negotiation and time management, basic gender concepts, and leadership. However, there remains a need to understand the correlation between economic empowerment and genderbased violence in the Ethiopian urban context, and this research is designed to address that gap by investigating the relationship between women’s economic empowerment and domestic violence in WISE SACCOs and considers WISE’s role in women’s economic empowerment.
Conceptual Framework to Understand Women’s Economic Empowerment
For WISE, Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) is strongly related to women’s ability to provide for themselves and their families and is the key to achieving gender equality. However, WEE is about acknowledging and taking into account that beyond strictly economic measures, empowerment entails a change in the lives of individual women and their interpersonal relations; the concept of active citizenship draws attention to women’s capacity to participate in the public life of their community (Kabeer, 2017). WISE considers women’s empowerment to mean personal growth, familial decision-making capacity, power and social empowerment, and economic improvements. This more expansive take on women’s empowerment is adapted based on the understanding that economic empowerment enhances women’s bargaining power in decision-making, voice, and freedom of choice to take purposeful action and pursue goals free from the threat of violence (Calder et al., 2020; Van Eerdewijk et al., 2017).
The organization emphasizes that economic equality can give women more bargaining power to negotiate gender roles and resource shifts at the level of the household (Calder et al., 2020, p. 10). Women’s economic empowerment is not a static position but a determined, transformative process whereby women and girls go from having little or no power, voice, and choice at home and in the economy to a position possessing the skills, resources, and opportunities for economic participation and access to economic gains (Taylor & Pereznieto, 2014; Hunt and Samman, 2016). This is achieved through women’s “acquisition of skills, voice, resources, increased agency and the ability to make strategic life choices” (Calder et al., 2020, p. 10). Since WISE provides women with microfinancing seed funds, it plays a crucial role in financially empowering women. However, the extent to which financial empowerment leads to all-encompassing empowerment remains an area of question, and this is where this research begins.
RESEARCHING SACCO MEMBERS’ EXPERIENCES
My husband prevented me from working and refused to give me enough money for household expenses while overspending on his refreshments. Over time, this economic vulnerability was accompanied by physical abuse, which pushed me into chronic depression. On my friend’s suggestion, I joined Alegnata SACCOs 18 years ago and received training at the WISE Training Center. That experience was a turning point for me. After the training, I woke up and started thinking about generating income based on my skills and potential. When I started working, my partner was unhappy and belittled my accomplishments. However, my training at WISE improved my decision-making power over time and gave me greater control over resources. I became both economically and personally empowered. Previously, I lacked the confidence to talk to people and express my feelings. I am a leader in the church and Iqub and Idir (traditional associations). Today, I am an independent woman who lives with my husband on equal terms and has avoided domestic violence. My husband’s attitude towards my work has changed; he is now positive and supportive. To other women, my suggestion is this: to prevent domestic violence, women and girls should step out of the house and pursue any job opportunity, as organizations like WISE will always be there to support them. From my experience, I advise women to become economically empowered, as this boosts self-esteem and confidence, helping them break free from poverty and say no to domestic violence.
- (Alegnta SACCO Member, Ethiopia)
The narrative above captures the life experiences of an Ethiopian woman’s transformation after joining a SACCO. She was one of the 573 Ethiopian women who participated in this research to discuss economic empowerment and domestic violence. Though her experiences echoed many of the participants’ transformative journeys, they differed based on their backgrounds and involvements. WISE developed a study to investigate women’s economic empowerment and financial disparities and identifies their correlation with microfinance and its relation to domestic violence.
Since WISE’s inception, over 56,000 women have been reached through 99 SACCOs with capacitybuilding interventions and access to microfinance services. The SACCOs are found in Addis Ababa, in all eleven sub-cities (Kirkos, Nifas Silk Lafto, Akaki Kality, Gulele, Yeka, Bole, Lemi Kura, Lideta, Arada, Kolfe, and Addis Ketema). From the total 99 SACCOs organized by WISE, 10 SACCOs were chosen from the Nifas Silk Lafto sub-city, four in Yeka sub-city, and two in the Arada sub-city. These SACCOs were selected based on how long they had been with WISE and offered representation from both newly established (two years) and medium (three to five years) and old (five or more years) organizations. Five hundred seventy-three women (468 WISE members and 105 non-WISE members, respectively) participated in this research from 18 to above 45. The reason for recruiting members and non-members is that their reflection will help better understand the relationship between women’s economic empowerment and domestic violence and reflect on WISE’s role in women’s empowerment. This research utilized secondary data, surveys, and interviews to understand further the relationship between women’s economic empowerment and domestic violence in WISE SACCOs and consider WISE’s role in women’s economic empowerment.
Demography
Among 573 participants, 36–40 represented the most prominent (27.6%) age group in this research. Participants above 45 comprised 24.8%, while the smallest group, 18–24, accounted for just 1.93% of the total population. The respondents’ education levels varied, with 15.4% having low literacy or no education, 48.5% completing grades 1–8, and 18.3% reaching grades 9–10. Additionally, 10% had education up to grades 11–12, while only 7% held a diploma or higher qualifications. While the majority (63.3%) of the respondents were married, 22.7% were unmarried, 12.6% were divorced, and 1.2% were widowed.
SACCO Membership and Economic Solvency
The findings indicate that longer-term membership in WISE SACCOs enables women to generate higher incomes than newer members.1 For instance, 42.9% of women who joined in 2015 earned less than 1000 Birr monthly, while 26.6% who joined at least a year before (2009-2014) earned 1000–2000 Birr2. The earning gap increased between participants based on their year of joining the SACCO. For instance, 36.4% of women who had been SACCO members for over 19 years earned more than 4000 Birr monthly, whereas their earning frequency is lower for those who joined in 2015 or later. The income gap between women’s SACCO membership and earning range implies that microfinance plays a vital and significant role in improving the economic empowerment status of the women beneficiaries.
Economic Empowerment and Domestic Violence
The study also assessed the prevalence of domestic violence against women across various forms, including physical, sexual, psychological, technological, and economic abuse. Economic abuse was found to be the most prevalent. The findings suggest that as women become more economically empowered, the likelihood of experiencing domestic violence decreases. For instance, women with lower-middle economic empowerment were particularly vulnerable, with 48% experiencing high levels of financial abuse, 42.6% psychological abuse, 20.3% physical abuse, 5.6% technological abuse, and 3.7% sexual abuse. In contrast, women with high economic empowerment faced significantly lower rates of domestic violence across all forms.
The study reveals that participating in WISE SACCOs significantly affects women’s economic empowerment. The results show that those women who participated in WISE SACCOs have a higher Women Economic Empowerment Index (0.87) than non-members (0.65).3 The data signifies that participating in the WISE SACCOs gives women better access and control over resources by identifying their assets, contributing to better improvement in their savings and income levels. Furthermore, the study participants identified multiple training, self-determination and life balance, access to savings and loans, different awards in competitions, and follow-up as essential for economic empowerment.
1 See Appendix: Table 1 Summary of Research Findings.
2 Birr is the primary unit of currency in Ethiopia
3 The Women’s Economic Empowerment Index (WEEI) in this study is calculated using ten indicators: decisionmaking power, income management, property administration, market participation, and social acceptability etc. Generally, WEEI is the sum of the scores across the ten indicators, divided by the maximum possible score of 30. This provides a standardized measure of individual empowerment levels. Each indicator is scored based on responses categorized as The WEEI is computed using the formula Women Economic empowerment = “ . Low,” “Medium,” or “High,” are the classifications that reflecting women’s empowerment relative to others and their partners.
DISCUSSION
The exercise of women’s agency (individually and collectively) as an intermediate outcome leading to a women’s economic empowerment outcomes was observed across all studied SACCOs.
Generally, women’s lives are transformed from a situation where they have limited power and access to economic assets to a situation where they experience economic advancement and become resistant to domestic violence. The output of the study shows a significantly positive effect of joining and organizing SACCOs on women’s economic empowerment, income, decision-making power, literacy, numeracy, time and money management, strengthening their leadership role and reducing domestic violence.
In conclusion, the quantitative and qualitative findings suggest that participating in WISE SACCOs significantly improved women’s income. In turn, it has improved their roles in household decisionmaking, and their opinions are being considered on decisions related to resources and finances— steppingstones in fighting gender inequality. It has also been suggested that more extended time attachment with WISE provides non-monetary advantages like continuous supervision works and multiple training with multiple layers that improve members’ ability to run income generation activities and become empowered.
REFERENCES
AWiB. (2024). WISE: Women with vision https://awibethiopia.org/focus/wise-women-with-vision/
Calder, R, Rickard, S, and Kalsi, K. (2020). Measurement of women’s economic empowerment. WOW Helpdesk Guidance Note No. 2. Work and Opportunities for Women Program, UK Aid. https://assets. publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5ef5c11ce90e075c58556215/Guidance-Measurement-WomansEconomic-Empowerment2.pdf
Gudeta Gerba, T., Keno, G. I., Hundera, M. B., & Tufa, F. A. (2024). Roles of gender in addressing structural inequality: assessment of Borana women’s endogenous institutional agents of gender amelioration in peace, conflict, and post-conflict settings. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 35(8), 14671499.
Hunt, A. and Samman, E. (2016). Women’s economic empowerment: Navigating enablers and constraints. ODI Research Report. Overseas Development Institute. https://odi.cdn.ngo/media/ documents/10683.pdf
Kabeer, N. (2017). Economic pathways to women’s empowerment and active citizenship: what does the evidence from Bangladesh tell us? The Journal of Development Studies, 53(5), 649-663.
Taylor, G., & Pereznieto, P. (2014). Review of evaluation approaches and methods used by interventions on women and girls’ economic empowerment. Overseas Development Institute, 14, 1-62.
UN Women Africa. (2024). Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) programme. https://africa. unwomen.org/en/women-economic-empowerment-wee-programme
Van Eerdewijk, A. H. J. M., Wong, F., Vaast, C., Newton, J., Tyszler, M., & Pennington, A. (2017). White paper: A conceptual model on women and girls’ empowerment.
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