Women’s Empowerment And Economic Development: Macro And Micro Evidence From Africa

Abstract

The concept of women’s empowerment is very broad, context-specific and multidimensional. However, a substantial portion of the economics literature that examines the welfare effects of women’s empowerment has focussed on improving women’s access to resources. Social institutions are very crucial in determining the agency and bargaining power of women in many regions of the world. In Africa, for instance, the social dimension of female empowerment has received relatively less attention despite its influence on the agency of women. Also, the lack of appropriate micro-level measures for the political empowerment of women has nearly led to the neglect of that dimension. This study constitutes a comprehensive attempt to examine the various dimensions of women’s empowerment and the effect on levels of welfare. Specifically, the study investigates (i) the effect of women’s political empowerment on the income and non-income measures of welfare in Africa, (ii) the effects of women’s empowerment on the cognitive development and academic achievement of children in Ghana as well as (iii) the influence of women’s empowerment on the health or nutrition of children in Ghana. The thesis employs suitable standard approaches such as the two-stage least-squares fixed-effect estimation, the panel Tobit estimation and quantile regression to examine the linkages. The following are the key findings: First, political empowerment of women has a significant positive effect on the non-income measure of welfare. In contrast, the effect on household income is marginal. This finding supports the vast literature that suggests that women are more inclined to opt for or support policies that enhance the health and education of children when in a position of power. Second, there is evidence that women’s economic empowerment and women’s social empowerment improve the learning outcomes of their wards. Finally, the thesis shows that women’s empowerment via either improved access to resources or social norms that enhance women's bargaining power and agency improves their children's health. The critical elements of women’s empowerment that drive this effect are a woman's employment status, land ownership, savings, decision-making participation and unrestricted family contact. The thesis makes valuable contributions to knowledge. Empirically, it provides evidence of how different forms of women’s empowerment influence welfare. It also presents new evidence on the effects of political empowerment on welfare in Africa. This thesis also brought to bear the indirect effect of the various forms of empowerment on the quality of learning. The study focuses on undernutrition and over nutrition, allowing for different impacts on children with varying nutritional statuses. Methodology-wise, this thesis uses improved measures of political empowerment of women, contrary to using the share of women in parliament as has been widely employed in the existing literature. Also, contrary to most existing studies in Ghana, this study benefits from using the GSEPS data to assess how women’s empowerment affects their wards’ quality of learning, benefiting from a more comprehensive array of covariates. As much as practicable, the study aims at providing causal inference, contrary to other existing studies that assessed simple correlations. Based on the findings of the thesis, some key recommendations are suggested for practice and policy. Governments, civil society organisations and other non-governmental organisations must strengthen capacity-building efforts such as education and training to improve the confidence and competence of women. This would make women fit to occupy positions of power in society and arm them with the requisite skills to compete in the job market. Governments must also strengthen the legal frameworks that secure and protect women's rights and use affirmative action policies or quotas to get women involved, where necessary and but at the expense of competence and capability. Lastly, the key elements of women’s empowerment, namely, employment, savings and land ownership, call for support from partners and governments alike. Traditional stipulates that prevent women from owning land and hamper their engagement in gainful employment must be changed. Also, the Intestate Succession Law must be upheld in guaranteeing the right of inheritance for a surviving spouse, children, the customary family and parents and ensuring that a greater portion of the property is shared among the surviving spouse and children. Ultimately, the study recommends conscious social education on the welfare gains that may accrue from modifying some of the restrictive social norms that hinder women’s agency. Social empowerment may complement the positive effect of women’s economic empowerment in welfare enhancement. Women must be included in family decision-making processes and encouraged to maintain meaningful social networks due to their pro-welfare effects.