The Agency, Resources, and Institutional Structures for Sanitation-related Empowerment (ARISE) Scales: Development and validation of measures of women’s empowerment in urban sanitation for low- and middle-income countries

•We developed quantitative survey instruments to measure sub-domains of women’s empowerment in relation to urban sanitation.•We deployed the instruments in Tiruchirappalli, India and Kampala, Uganda and assessed reliability, validity, and measurement properties.•The instruments demonstrate clear dimensionality, strong psychometric properties, good internal consistency, and multiple forms of validity.•The Agency, Resources, and Institutional Structures for Sanitation-related Empowerment (ARISE) scales are valid and reliable instruments.•We are continuing to refine six of the 16 scales and are testing all scales in new settings across South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.