Assessing the validity of the constructs of autonomy, identities, and agencies as applicable to women in India

The key concepts of the gender and development paradigm and the identities of women framework are critically reviewed and statistically evaluated. The gender and development paradigm primarily informs the current day research and practice initiatives that are undertaken with women in developing societies. The four phases of the gender and development paradigm---women in development, women and development, gender and development, and women, culture, and development---are critically reviewed and their limitations in addressing women's situation within developing societies are highlighted. The identities of women framework proposed in this study is an alternative framework for research and practice that is informed by poststructuralist critique of feminism, cultural anthropology, and socio-psychological approach. The identities of women framework aims to address the limitations of the gender and development paradigm.;The construct validity of the key constructs of "women's autonomy", "women's identities", and "women's agencies" is assessed. Women's autonomy is a popular construct within the gender and development paradigm. Women's identities and women's agencies are the key constructs within the identities of women framework. A sample of 1600 women from a secondary dataset (Survey on the Status of Women and Fertility-India) collected in 1993--94 is used for the study. Structural Equation Modeling and Confirmatory Factor Analysis are the main statistical techniques used in the study. The study found parsimonious and simple models for six of the subscales of women's autonomy; however the full model tests with seven subscales together did not report good fit indices. Also, all the subscales comprised of indicators that lacked measurement invariance across the four groups of development, religion, and household status. The study did not find evidence to support the construct of an overarching holistic agency. The findings establish the construct validity of traditional and modern identities of women. The findings of the study disprove the assertion of a predictive link between identity and agency. In summary, the findings from this study raise questions regarding the applicability and relevance of global conceptualization and measurement of "women's autonomy", "women's agency", and "women's identity" in rural and developing societies, such as India.