Have a personal or library account? Click to login
The impact of women’s economic empowerment on human development in sub-Saharan Africa: A panel quantile regression approach Cover

The impact of women’s economic empowerment on human development in sub-Saharan Africa: A panel quantile regression approach

Open Access
|Apr 2025

References

  1. Asaleye, A. J., & Strydom, K. (2023). Promoting women’s empowerment: Linkages between financial development, employment and economic growth in selected African economies. Sage Open, 13(4), 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440231202413
  2. Asongu, S., & Odhiambo, N. (2018). ICT, financial access and gender inclusion in the formal economic sector: Evidence from Africa. The African Finance Journal, 20(2), 46–66. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3305000
  3. Aterido, R., Beck, T., & Iacovone, L. (2013). Access to finance in sub-Saharan Africa: Is there a gender gap? World Development, 47, 102–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2013.02.013
  4. Bandara, A. (2015). The economic cost of gender gaps in effective labor: Africa’s missing growth reserve. Feminist Economics, 21(2), 162–186. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2014.986153
  5. Bongaarts, J. (2020). Trends in fertility and fertility preferences in sub-Saharan Africa: The roles of education and family planning programs. Genus, 76(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41118-020-00098-z
  6. Campos, F., & Gassier, M. (2017). Gender and enterprise development in sub-Saharan Africa: A review of constraints and effective interventions. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, 8239. https://ssrn.com/abstract=3067086
  7. Campos, F., Frese, M., Goldstein, M., Iacovone, L., Johnson, H. C., McKenzie, D., & Mensmann, M. (2018). Is personal initiative training a substitute or complement to the existing human capital of women? Results from a randomized trial in Togo. AEA Papers and Proceedings, 108, 256–261. https://doi.org/10.1257/pandp.20181026
  8. Canay, I. A. (2011). A simple approach to quantile regression for panel data. Econometrics Journal, 14(3), 368–386. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1368-423x.2011.00349.x
  9. Chikh-Amnache, S., Chikh-Boubaghela, N., & Mekhzoumi, L. (2023). How does female entrepreneurship affect happiness? Central European Economic Journal, 10(57), 180–197. https://doi.org/10.2478/ceej-2023-0011
  10. Chikh-Amnache, S., & Mekhzoumi, L. (2024). The influence of socioeconomic factors on female entrepreneurship in Southeast Asian countries. Journal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies, 16(1), 33–70. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeee-12-2022-0371
  11. Comblon, V., Robilliard, A., & Roubaud, F. (2017). Gender analysis of labour market outcomes in sub-Saharan Africa: Recent evidence from Cameroon and Mali. UN Women Discussion Papers, 16. https://doi.org/10.18356/7bf28339-en
  12. Deere, C. D., & Doss, C. R. (2006). The gender asset gap: What do we know and why does it matter? Feminist Economics, 12(1–2), 1–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545700500508056
  13. Delprato, M., & Akyeampong, K. (2017). The effect of early marriage timing on women’s and children’s health in sub-Saharan Africa and Southwest Asia. Annals of Global Health, 83, 3-4, 557–567. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aogh.2017.10.005
  14. Demirgüç-Kunt, A., Klapper, L., Singer, D., Ansar, S., & Hess, J. (2020). The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring financial inclusion and opportunities to expand access to and use of financial services. The World Bank Economic Review, 34(1), S2–S8. https://doi.org/10.1093/wber/lhz013
  15. Doss, C., Kovarik, C., Peterman, A., Quisumbing, A., & van den Bold, M. (2015). Gender inequalities in ownership and control of land in Africa: Myth and reality. Agricultural Economics, 46(3), 403–434. https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12171
  16. Doss, C., Summerfield, G., & Tsikata, D. (2014). Land, gender, and food security. Feminist Economics, 20(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2014.895021
  17. Duflo, E. (2012). Women empowerment and economic development. Journal of Economic Literature, 50(4), 1051–1079. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.50.4.1051
  18. Flores, L., Settles, I., McGillen, G., & Davis, T. (2021). Critical contributions to scholarship on women and work: Celebrating 50 years of progress and looking ahead to a new decade. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 126, 103490. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JVB.2020.103490
  19. Golla, A. M., Malhotra, A., Nanda, P., & Mehra, R. (2011). Understanding and measuring women’s economic empowerment: Definition, framework and indicators. International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). https://www.icrw.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Understanding-measuring-womens-economicempowerment.pdf
  20. Guli, V., & Geda, N. (2021). Women’s participation in labor force in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): A review of determinants and impacts. Archives of Current Research International, 21(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.9734/ACRI/2021/V21I230228
  21. Hallward-Driemeier, M., & Hasan, T. (2013). Empowering women: Legal rights and economic opportunities in Africa. The World Bank. https://gsdrc.org/document-library/empowering-women-legal-rights-and-economic-opportunities-in-africa/
  22. Haugh, H. M., & Talwar, A. (2016). Linking social entrepreneurship and social change: The mediating role of empowerment. Journal of Business Ethics, 133(4), 643–658. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-014-2449-4
  23. Jaiyeola, E., & Adeyeye, M. (2021). Obstacles along the path of women enterprises in Africa: A case study of Ogotun women in Ekiti state, Nigeria. Heliyon, 7(7), e07593. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e07593
  24. Jones, R., Haardörfer, R., Ramakrishnan, U., Yount, K., Miedema, S., Roach, T., & Girard, A. (2020). Intrinsic and instrumental agency associated with nutritional status of East African women. Social Science & Medicine, 247, 112803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2020.112803
  25. Kabeer, N. (1999). Resources, agency, achievements: Reflections on the measurement of women’s empowerment. Development and Change, 30(3), 435–464. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-7660.00125
  26. Kabeer, N. (2005). Gender equality and women’s empowerment: A critical analysis of the third millennium development goal 1. Gender & Development, 13(1), 13–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552070512331332273
  27. Kabeer, N. (2016). Gender equality, economic growth, and women’s agency: The “endless variety” and “monotonous similarity” of patriarchal constraints. Feminist Economics, 22(1), 295–321. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2015.1090009
  28. Kabeer, N. (2018). Gender, livelihood capabilities and women’s economic empowerment: Reviewing evidence over the life course. GAGE. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/90462
  29. Kabeer, N. (2020). Women’s empowerment and economic development: A feminist critique of storytelling practices in “Randomista” economics. Feminist Economics, 26(2), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545701.2020.1743338
  30. Kelley, D. J., Baumer, B. S., Brush, C., Greene, P. G., Mahdavi, M., Majbouri, M., Cole, M., Dean, M., & Heavlow, R. (2017). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2016/2017 report on women’s entrepreneurship. Babson College. https://www.gemconsortium.org/report/gem-20162017-womens-entrepreneurship-report
  31. Ketchiwou, G., & Dzansi, L. (2023). Examining the impact of gender discriminatory practices on women’s development and progression at work. Businesses, 3(2), 347–367. https://doi.org/10.3390/businesses3020022
  32. Klasen, S., & Lamanna, F. (2009). The impact of gender inequality in education and employment on economic growth: New evidence for a panel of countries. Feminist Economics, 15(3), 91–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/13545700902893106
  33. Koenker, R. (2004). Quantile regression for longitudinal data. Journal of Multivariate Analysis, 91(1), 74–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmva.2004.05.006
  34. Koenker, R., & Bassett, G. (1982). Robust tests for heteroscedasticity based on regression quantiles. Econometrica, 50(1), 43–61. https://doi.org/10.2307/1912528
  35. Machado, J. A., & Silva, J. S. (2019). Quantiles via moments. Journal of Econometrics, 213(1), 145–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconom.2019.04.009
  36. Manandhar, M., Hawkes, S., Buse, K., Nosrati, E., & Magar, V. (2018). Gender, health and the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 96, 644–653. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6154065/
  37. Marphatia, A., Ambale, G., & Reid, A. (2017, October 18). Women’s marriage age matters for public health: A review of the broader health and social implications in South Asia. Frontiers in Public Health, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2017.00269
  38. Meinzen-Dick, R., Quisumbing, A., Doss, C., & Theis, S. (2019). Women’s land rights as a pathway to poverty reduction: Framework and review of available evidence. Agricultural Systems, 172, 72–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2017.10.009
  39. Monteiro, A., García‐Sánchez, I., & Aibar‐Guzmán, B. (2021). Labour practice, decent work and human rights performance and reporting: The impact of women managers. Journal of Business Ethics, 180, 523–542. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04913-1
  40. Mothobi, O., & Grzybowski, L. (2017). Infrastructure deficiencies and adoption of mobile money in sub-Saharan Africa. Information Economics and Policy, 40, 71–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoecopol.2017.05.003
  41. Nussbaum, M. C. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach. Belknap Press. https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061200
  42. Ojong, N., Simba, A., & Dana, L. (2021). Female entrepreneurship in Africa: A review, trends, and future research directions. Journal of Business Research, 132, 233–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.04.032
  43. Oyěwùmí, O. (1997). The invention of women: Making an African sense of western gender discourses. University of Minnesota Press. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA35591042
  44. Palacios-Lopez, A., Christiaensen, L., & Kilic, T. (2017). How much of the labor in African agriculture is provided by women? Food Policy, 67, 52–63. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2016.09.017
  45. Porter, G. (2011). ‘I think a woman who travels a lot is befriending other men and that’s why she travels’: ‘4Dobility constraints and their implications for rural women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Gender Place & Culture, 18(1), 65–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369x.2011.535304
  46. Psacharopoulos, G., & Patrinos, H. A. (2018). Returns to investment in education: A decennial review of the global literature. Education Economics, 26(5), 445–458. https://doi.org/10.1080/09645292.2018.1484426
  47. Sen, A. K. (1999). Development as freedom. Knopf. https://ci.nii.ac.jp/ncid/BA43059927
  48. Tamale, S. (2020). Decolonization and Afro-feminism. Daraja Press. https://www.amazon.com/Decolonization-Afro-Feminism-Sylvia-Tamale/dp/1988832497
  49. Taukobong, H., Kincaid, M., Levy, J., Bloom, S., Platt, J., Henry, S., & Darmstadt, G. (2016). Does addressing gender inequalities and empowering women and girls improve health and development programme outcomes? Health Policy and Planning, 31(10), 1492–1514. https://doi.org/10.1093/HEAPOL/CZW074
  50. Thaddeus, K., Bih, D., Nebong, N., Ngong, C., Mongo, E., Akume, A., & Onwumere, J. (2022). Female labour force participation rate and economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa: “A liability or an asset”. Journal of Business and Socio-economic Development, 2(1), 34–48. https://doi.org/10.1108/jbsed-09-2021-0118
  51. UN Women. (2019). Annual report 2018–2019. United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2019/06/annual-report-2018-2019
  52. Verick, S. (2014). Female labor force participation in developing countries. IZA World of Labor. https://doi.org/10.15185/izawol.87
  53. Wafa, A., Riadh, H., & Abbas, M. (2023). Theoretical evidence and empirical investigation of the impacts of women’s psychological needs on the environment, well-being, and performance at work. International Journal of Professional Business Review, 8(11), e02266. https://doi.org/10.26668/businessreview/2023.v8i11.2266
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18559/ebr.2025.1.1698 | Journal eISSN: 2450-0097 | Journal ISSN: 2392-1641
Language: English
Page range: 55 - 81
Submitted on: Aug 14, 2024
Accepted on: Jan 13, 2025
Published on: Apr 10, 2025
Published by: Poznań University of Economics and Business Press
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

© 2025 Lotfi Mekhzoumi, Sabrina Chikh-Amnache, Nabila Mekhzoumi, published by Poznań University of Economics and Business Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.