IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/agd/wpaper/22-004.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Women empowerment and environmental sustainability in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Elvis Dze Achuo

    (University of Dschang, Cameroon)

  • Simplice A. Asongu

    (Yaoundé, Cameroon)

  • Vanessa S. Tchamyou

    (Yaoundé, Cameroon)

Abstract

This study examines the effect of women’s socioeconomic empowerment on environmental sustainability in Africa over the 1996-2019 period. Results of the system Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimator reveal that women’s socioeconomic empowerment is environment enhancing. Moreover, the findings reveal that the environmental impact of women’s socioeconomic empowerment is modulated through GDP per capita and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), leading to respective net effects of 0.002055 and 0.003478. These positive net effects are offset beyond respective threshold values of 9.513889 and 9.611398. These thresholds of GDP and FDI are critical for complementary policies relating to the link between women empowerment and environmental sustainability. Consequently, for women empowerment to effectively contribute to environmental sustainability in Africa, various governments, either through individual or concerted efforts should endeavour to create enabling business environments capable of attracting substantial FDI necessary to propel sustainable growth. Moreover, the nexus is not linear and hence, governments should also be aware of critical levels of FDI and GDP per capita at which, complementary policies are needed for women’s socioeconomic empowerment to maintain a positive influence on environmental sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Elvis Dze Achuo & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2022. "Women empowerment and environmental sustainability in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/004, African Governance and Development Institute..
    • Handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:22/004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.afridev.org/RePEc/agd/agd-wpaper/Women-empowerment-and-environmental-sustainability-in-Africa.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2022
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Esther Duflo, 2012. "Women Empowerment and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1051-1079, December.
    2. Vanessa Simen Tchamyou, 2020. "Education, lifelong learning, inequality and financial access: evidence from African countries," Contemporary Social Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 7-25, January.
    3. Tolulope Osinubi & Simplice Asongu, 2020. "Globalization and female economic participation in MINT and BRICS countries," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 48(6), pages 1177-1193, October.
    4. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Environmental degradation and inclusive human development in sub‐Saharan Africa," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 25-34, January.
    5. Tii N. Nchofoung & Simplice A. Asongu & Arsène A. Njamen Kengdo & Elvis D. Achuo, 2022. "Linear and non‐linear effects of infrastructures on inclusive human development in Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 34(1), pages 81-96, March.
    6. George Atisa & Aziza Zemrani & Mathew Weiss, 2021. "Decentralized governments: local empowerment and sustainable development challenges in Africa," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 3349-3367, March.
    7. Punita Bhatt Datta & Robert Gailey, 2012. "Empowering Women through Social Entrepreneurship: Case Study of a Women's Cooperative in India," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(3), pages 569-587, May.
    8. Vanessa S. Tchamyou & Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "The Role of ICT in Modulating the Effect of Education and Lifelong Learning on Income Inequality and Economic Growth in Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 31(3), pages 261-274, September.
    9. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    10. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    11. Mehdi Ghasemi & Mohammad Badsar & Leila Falahati & Esmail Karamidehkordi, 2021. "The mediation effect of rural women empowerment between social factors and environment conservation (combination of empowerment and ecofeminist theories)," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(9), pages 13755-13777, September.
    12. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Chris Pyke, 2019. "The Comparative Economics of ICT, Environmental Degradation and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 1271-1297, June.
    13. Jeffry A. Jacob & Thomas Osang, 2020. "Democracy And Growth: A Dynamic Panel Data Study," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 65(01), pages 41-80, March.
    14. Tii N. Nchofoung & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2021. "The political implication of women and industrialisation in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/072, African Governance and Development Institute..
    15. Brambor, Thomas & Clark, William Roberts & Golder, Matt, 2006. "Understanding Interaction Models: Improving Empirical Analyses," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 63-82, January.
    16. Nchofoung, Tii N. & Achuo, Elvis Dze & Asongu, Simplice A., 2021. "Resource rents and inclusive human development in developing countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Fara Azmat & Yuka Fujimoto, 2016. "Family embeddedness and entrepreneurship experience: a study of Indian migrant women entrepreneurs in Australia," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(9-10), pages 630-656, October.
    18. Grossman, G.M & Krueger, A.B., 1991. "Environmental Impacts of a North American Free Trade Agreement," Papers 158, Princeton, Woodrow Wilson School - Public and International Affairs.
    19. World Bank, 2020. "Women, Business and the Law 2020 [Mujer, Empresa y el Derecho 2020]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 32639, December.
    20. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nnanna, Joseph & Acha-Anyi, Paul N., 2020. "Inequality and gender economic inclusion: The moderating role of financial access in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 173-185.
    21. Clovis Wendji Miamo & Elvis Dze Achuo, 2022. "Can the resource curse be avoided? An empirical examination of the nexus between crude oil price and economic growth," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(1), pages 1-23, January.
    22. Asongu, Simplice A. & Adegboye, Alex & Nnanna, Joseph, 2021. "Promoting female economic inclusion for tax performance in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 159-170.
    23. Holtz-Eakin, Douglas & Newey, Whitney & Rosen, Harvey S, 1988. "Estimating Vector Autoregressions with Panel Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(6), pages 1371-1395, November.
    24. Simplice A. Asongu & Omang O. Messono & Keyanfe T. J. Guttemberg, 2021. "Women political empowerment and vulnerability to climate change: evidence from developing countries," Working Papers of The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA). 21/001, The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA).
    25. Sophie Alkhaled & Karin Berglund, 2018. "‘And now I’m free’: Women’s empowerment and emancipation through entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia and Sweden," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 30(7-8), pages 877-900, August.
    26. United Nations UN, 2015. "Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development," Working Papers id:7559, eSocialSciences.
    27. Linda Scott & Catherine Dolan & Mary Johnstone–Louis & Kimberly Sugden & Maryalice Wu, 2012. "Enterprise and Inequality: A Study of Avon in South Africa," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 36(3), pages 543-568, May.
    28. Albert Achudume, 2009. "Environmental health, development and economic empowerment of rural women in Nigeria," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 459-469, April.
    29. Mirela Xheneti, 2017. "Contexts of enterprise policy-making – an institutional perspective," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(3-4), pages 317-339, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Microfinance institutions and female entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa: avoidable female unemployment thresholds," Working Papers 23/018, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    2. Asongu, Simplice A. & Ngoungou, Yolande E. & Nnanna, Joseph, 2023. "Mobile money innovations and health performance in sub-Saharan Africa," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    3. Nchofoung, Tii N. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2022. "Effects of infrastructures on environmental quality contingent on trade openness and governance dynamics in Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 152-163.
    4. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Female unemployment, mobile money innovations and doing business by females," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.
    5. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "The role of financial inclusion in moderating the incidence of entrepreneurship on energy poverty in Ghana," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/035, African Governance and Development Institute..
    6. Tii N. Nchofoung & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2022. "Effect of women’s political inclusion on the level of infrastructures in Africa," Working Papers of The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA). 22/004, The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA).
    7. Elvis Dze Achuo, 2022. "The nexus between crude oil price shocks and environmental quality: empirical evidence from sub-Saharan Africa," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 2(7), pages 1-15, July.
    8. Ofori, Isaac K. & Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y. & Dossou, Marcel A. T. & Nkrumah, Richard K. & Nkansah, Emmanuel, 2023. "Towards inclusive growth in Africa: Remittances, and financial development interactive effects and thresholds," MPRA Paper 116958, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Asongu, Simplice A. & le Roux, Sara, 2023. "The role of mobile money innovations in transforming unemployed women to self-employed women in sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    10. Ofori, Isaac K. & Gbolonyo, Emmanuel Y. & Toyo Dossou, Marcel A. & Nkrumah, Richard K. & Nkansah, Emmanuel, 2023. "Towards inclusive growth in Africa: Remittances, and financial development interactive effects and thresholds," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    11. Jean C. Kouam & Simplice A. Asongu & Bin J. Meh & Robert Nantchouang & Fri L. Asanga & Denis Foretia, 2022. "Duration of Support and Financial Health of Business Support Structures in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, and Ghana: A Micro-Econometric Analysis," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/048, African Governance and Development Institute..
    12. Isaac K. Ofori & Emmanuel Y. Gbolonyo & Marcel A. Toyo Dossou & Richard K. Nkrumah & Emmanuel Nkansah, 2023. "Towards inclusive growth in Africa: Remittances, and financial development interactive effects and thresholds," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/024, African Governance and Development Institute..
    13. Isaac K. Ofori & Emmanuel Y. Gbolonyo & Marcel A. Toyo Dossou & Richard K. Nkrumah & Emmanuel Nkansah, 2023. "Towards inclusive growth in Africa: Remittances, and financial development interactive effects and thresholds," Working Papers 23/024, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nnanna, Joseph & Acha-Anyi, Paul N., 2020. "Finance, inequality and inclusive education in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 162-177.
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph Nnanna & Paul N. Acha-Anyi, 2020. "Inclusive Education for Inclusive Economic Participation: the Financial Access Channel," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/019, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Female unemployment, mobile money innovations and doing business by females," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.
    4. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Microfinance institutions and female entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa: avoidable female unemployment thresholds," Working Papers of The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA). 23/007, The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA).
    5. Vanessa S. Tchamyou & Juste Some & Simplice A. Asongu, 2022. "The African Continental Free Trade Area and Financial Development for Women Economic Participation in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/040, African Governance and Development Institute..
    6. Asongu, Simplice A. & le Roux, Sara, 2023. "The role of mobile money innovations in transforming unemployed women to self-employed women in sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    7. Elvis Dze Achuo & Tii N. Nchofoung & Simplice A. Asongu & Gildas Dohba Dinga, 2021. "Unravelling the Mysteries of Underdevelopment in Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 21/073, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    8. Elvis D. Achuo & Pilag B.C. Kakeu & Simplice A. Asongu, 2023. "Financial development, human capital and energy transition: A global comparative analysis," Working Papers 23/005, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    9. Asongu, Simplice A. & Adegboye, Alex & Nnanna, Joseph, 2021. "Promoting female economic inclusion for tax performance in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 159-170.
    10. Asongu, Simplice & Odhiambo, Nicholas, 2020. "The role of Globalization in Modulating the Effect of Environmental Degradation on Inclusive Human Development," MPRA Paper 103143, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Enhancing ICT for insurance in Africa," Review of Development Finance Journal, Chartered Institute of Development Finance, vol. 9(2), pages 16-27.
    12. Simplice Asongu & Christelle Meniago & Raufhon Salahodjaev, 2022. "The role of value added across economic sectors in modulating the effects of FDI on TFP and economic growth dynamics," International Journal of Emerging Markets, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 18(11), pages 5087-5108, February.
    13. Simplice Asongu & Rexon Nting, 2021. "The mobile phone in governance for environmental sustainability in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Economic and Administrative Sciences, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 39(1), pages 225-243, June.
    14. Nchofoung, Tii N. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2022. "Effects of infrastructures on environmental quality contingent on trade openness and governance dynamics in Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 152-163.
    15. Tii N. Nchofoung & Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2022. "Tourism, ICT and inclusive development: global evidence," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/037, African Governance and Development Institute..
    16. Simplice Asongu, 2023. "Female unemployment and the procedure that a woman has to go through to start a business: microfinance policy thresholds," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(5), pages 939-955, December.
    17. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2020. "Finance, governance and inclusive education in Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 17(8), pages 1044-1061, July.
    18. Achuo, Elvis D., 2023. "Resource wealth and the development dilemma in Africa: The role of policy syndromes," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    19. Asongu, Simplice A. & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2021. "Inequality, finance and renewable energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 678-688.
    20. Simplice A. Asongu & Mushfiqur Rahman & Okeoma J-P Okeke & Afzal S. Munna, 2021. "Tourism management for financial access in Sub-Saharan Africa: inequality thresholds," Research Africa Network Working Papers 21/079, Research Africa Network (RAN).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Women empowerment; Environmental sustainability; Ecofeminism; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B54 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Feminist Economics
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • O55 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies - - - Africa
    • Q56 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Environment and Development; Environment and Trade; Sustainability; Environmental Accounts and Accounting; Environmental Equity; Population Growth

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:22/004. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Asongu Simplice (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/agdiycm.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.