Questions and measures
what to ask women, which rules to study and which external norms to compare them with, for example ILO Convention 183 on maternity protection
Status of the WLCE Index and the pilot
What is being prepared now, when taking part opens, and how the results will be checked
Get survey invitation Index Results RegisterHow the research will develop
2026 is the architecture year.
Womafreesm is preparing the Women’s Life-Cycle Economy Index (WLCE Index) for its first stage of collection: the questions, the calculation rules, the platform and the protection of answers. Collection will begin with a pilot in countries still to be determined. The pilot will show how well women with different life experiences understand the questions, how collection works and what conclusions the answers support. The research plan and the pilot criteria will be published before the pilot, and a report with results and limits after it. Completed steps appear in the Index Results Register.
After the architecture year, the program is planned to run for five years: the pilot, international data collection, publication of results and their use. Moving to the next stage depends on the readiness of the research, the quality of the data and safe conditions.
| Stage | What happens | What you will be able to check |
|---|---|---|
| 2026: the architecture year | The questions, the ways of selecting participants, the calculation rules, data protection and the platform are developed; language versions and partnerships are prepared. | The research plan, the questionnaires, the measurement cards and the launch conditions. |
| Year 1: the pilot | In countries still to be determined, the whole chain is tested: from how the questions are understood to how answers are processed and preliminary calculations are made. A separate random sample is drawn alongside the open survey. | The pilot report: what could be tested, which limits were found and what needs more work; preliminary profiles of the pilot countries. |
| After the pilot | The instruments are refined based on the pilot results, and version 1 of the methodology and calculation is finalized. | Published calculation rules and the conditions for including countries in international collection. |
| Years 2 and 3: international collection | The first and second global waves, that is, the international stages of data collection; in each country the make-up of participants and the quality and sufficiency of the data are checked. The Index’s own audit of algorithms that make decisions about women. | Progress of collection, the data obtained and the limits for each country; the program is designed for 2,000,000 quality-checked questionnaires. |
| Year 4: publication | Calculations and the independent statistical check, global and regional reports, country profiles, the report of the Index’s algorithm audit, a map of care load by country. | Results together with an explanation of methods, precision and the limits of the conclusions. |
| Year 5: use of the results | Recommendations, development and implementation of the Equal Consideration Standard, working groups on changing rules in countries. | Published recommendations and the results of applying the Standard. |
What is being prepared for launch
For the pilot launch, the following are being prepared:
The research plan
how to select participants, run the survey and process the answers
Protection of participants and data
the terms of consent, access to answers, storage and ending participation; the data protection impact assessment
Language versions
translations and a check of how women understand the questions
The platform and in-person collection
the technical tools and the way of working in different conditions
Partnerships
the tasks and responsibilities of the organizations taking part in the preparation
The plan is to choose the external ethics committee and the external statistical auditor during 2027, before data collection begins.
The list of pilot countries will be published with the pilot methodology note.
Why the research starts with a pilot
For women’s answers to become a basis for conclusions about rules, the method of the research has to be tested first.
The pilot will show whether the questions are understood, which life situations they cover, how women answer in different conditions, and how consistently specialists assess laws and other rules. The pilot countries and survey languages will be determined and published before collection begins.
Each pilot country will have two ways of taking part: the open survey, which a woman joins on her own, and a separate group invited by a random selection scheme set in advance, about 2,000 participants per country as a guide. The Index will be calculated three ways: from the random sample, from the open survey with weighting, and by a combined method. The comparison of the three calculations will be published in full, with its discrepancies, together with the assumptions and limits of each method.
After the pilot, a report on how the research was tested and preliminary profiles of the pilot countries will be published, without ranking the countries.
The first comparative edition of the Index will come after international collection, once the methodology is finalized and the data is checked as fit for comparison.
What results the pilot will be judged by
Before the pilot begins, the eight pilot criteria, the methods of assessment and the thresholds for moving to the next stage will be published with the methodology note. For each criterion a result will be published: what could be established and which questions remain open.
1 The questions measure what they claim to
Whether the questions and measures capture exactly the aspects of women’s lives and of rules named in the methodology, and whether they can tell countries apart.
2 The questions are understood the same way in every language
Whether participants understand the questions and answer options in the same way in every language; where a question reads differently, its wording is revised.
3 Laws and rules are assessed consistently
How consistently different specialists assess the same law or other rule against shared criteria; differences in their assessments are examined and documented.
4 The results agree with reliable external data
Where external research already shows differences between groups of women, the questionnaire should show them too; discrepancies are examined for possible causes.
5 The algorithm audit works
Whether the Index’s own AI audit can tell apart systems that published experiments have already shown to differ; each of its tests states its task and limits.
6 A country’s position is stable
How much a country’s result changes across the three calculation methods and across the acceptable variants of weights and of the handling of gaps in the data.
7 Women are willing to answer again
Whether participants agree to a repeat survey, whether contact can be kept, which groups more often continue, and how fully women describe their past experience.
8 The data can be collected
Whether the random sample can be built, what share of those invited answered, the reach across groups of women, the precision of measures, and the time and cost.
Based on the test results, the next step will be set for each country and each section: continuing the work, revising and re-testing, or postponing the launch until the conditions are met. Protection of participants and data is checked separately, as a mandatory condition for opening collection.
Which documents will appear before the research begins
Before the first participant answers, documents will be published from which the design of the pilot can be understood and checked:
1 The research plan
whom the study invites, how participants are selected, what data is collected and how it will be analyzed
2 The questionnaires and the measurement cards
which questions are asked, what each measure means and what it is compared with, such as ILO Convention 183
3 Preliminary calculation rules
how answers and assessments of rules are turned into measures, combined and handled when data is missing
4 The pilot criteria
what will be assessed in the pilot, by which methods, and which results are needed to go to the next stage
After the pilot, a report will be published: the results of the testing, the changes compared with the original plan and the reasons for them. Before the first global wave, version 1 of the Index methodology and calculation will be published; every later change will get a new version number and an explanation of why, so that results from different stages can be compared correctly.
What the results will make it possible to understand
How rules account for women’s lives
The Index will compare the content of rules with external norms and with the experience of the women affected, by life-cycle stage and decision system.
How sound the comparison of countries is
Each comparison will state its sources, the group of women, the collection period and its limits; the survey part rests on random samples in each country.
How precise a result is
Measures of uncertainty will be published with the estimates, and a separate check will show how calculation variants affect the position of a country.
Which situations need study
The open survey will help find and describe the experience of participants, including rare situations; the limits of each such analysis will be stated.
How life changes over time
Repeat surveys will show change; publications will state the period of observation, the make-up of the group that remained and the limits of conclusions.
How algorithms behave
The Index’s own AI audit will separately assess a system’s compliance and behavior in the scenarios studied; the scope of each conclusion will be stated.
Where to check the progress of the work
The detailed history is kept in the Index Results Register.
It shows what has been done, what is in progress, what is blocked and why; published documents carry a date and a version.
FAQ
1. Can I take the questionnaire already?
Not yet: 2026 is the architecture year of the WLCE Index. Collection will begin with the pilot once its documents are published and the launch conditions are met; the pilot countries and the conditions of participation will be published before the questionnaire opens. Leave your email and country on the Take part page: one email will come when the survey opens in your country. Taking part is free and private.