<p>This study introduced an innovative multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) framework tailored to evaluate and enhance women empowerment policies. Acknowledging the interconnectedness of gender equality, organizational effectiveness, and economic growth as pivotal goals, the framework employs spherical fuzzy sets (SFS) to accommodate both qualitative and quantitative information, addressing the uncertainties characteristic of real-world decision-making scenarios. The framework's evaluation process incorporated assessments by five experts who analyzed eight women empowerment policies across six critical factors: Social and Cultural Factors, Educational Factors, Economic Factors, Health and Well-being, Political and Legal Factors, and Technological Access. By integrating the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for expert judgment, the Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) for determining factor weights, and the Combined Compromise Solution (CoCoSo) method for policy prioritization, the study provides a robust and reliable decision-support system for policy evaluation in SFS environments. Key findings indicate that policies targeting “Education Policy and Administration,” “Business and Entrepreneurship,” and “Technology and Innovation” hold the highest compromise index (<InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <InlineMediaObject> <ImageObject Color="BlackWhite" FileRef="12046_2025_2770_Article_IEq1.gif" Format="GIF" Height="17" Rendition="HTML" Resolution="72" Type="Linedraw" Width="22" /> </InlineMediaObject> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$Q_{i}$</EquationSource> <EquationSource Format="MATHML"><math> <msub> <mi>Q</mi> <mi>i</mi> </msub> </math></EquationSource> </InlineEquation>), 1.846, 1.837, and 1.694 respectively, for empowering women. These results suggest that prioritizing investments and initiatives in these areas is crucial to advancing gender equality and driving economic growth. Sensitivity and comparative analyses against the existing methods confirmed the stability and effectiveness of the proposed framework, demonstrating its capacity to capture expert opinions and manage uncertainties comprehensively. The practical implications of this study extend beyond theoretical advancements, offering actionable insights for policymakers to identify, prioritize, and implement impactful women empowerment policies.</p>

A novel hybrid spherical fuzzy AHP-SWARA-CoCoSo based group decision-making approach and their application in evaluating women empowerment policies

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发表日期：

2025年6月10日

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Rajdip Mahajan,
Abhijit Baidya,
Pinki Majumder,
Uttam Kumar Bera

摘要

This study introduced an innovative multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) framework tailored to evaluate and enhance women empowerment policies. Acknowledging the interconnectedness of gender equality, organizational effectiveness, and economic growth as pivotal goals, the framework employs spherical fuzzy sets (SFS) to accommodate both qualitative and quantitative information, addressing the uncertainties characteristic of real-world decision-making scenarios. The framework's evaluation process incorporated assessments by five experts who analyzed eight women empowerment policies across six critical factors: Social and Cultural Factors, Educational Factors, Economic Factors, Health and Well-being, Political and Legal Factors, and Technological Access. By integrating the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) for expert judgment, the Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) for determining factor weights, and the Combined Compromise Solution (CoCoSo) method for policy prioritization, the study provides a robust and reliable decision-support system for policy evaluation in SFS environments. Key findings indicate that policies targeting “Education Policy and Administration,” “Business and Entrepreneurship,” and “Technology and Innovation” hold the highest compromise index ( $Q_{i}$ $Q_{i}$ ), 1.846, 1.837, and 1.694 respectively, for empowering women. These results suggest that prioritizing investments and initiatives in these areas is crucial to advancing gender equality and driving economic growth. Sensitivity and comparative analyses against the existing methods confirmed the stability and effectiveness of the proposed framework, demonstrating its capacity to capture expert opinions and manage uncertainties comprehensively. The practical implications of this study extend beyond theoretical advancements, offering actionable insights for policymakers to identify, prioritize, and implement impactful women empowerment policies.