Impact of Climate Change on Women’s Political Empowerment: The Sustainable Development Perspective

As the influence of climate change on human sustainable development intensifies, the issue of climate change is attracting the attention of more and more scholars, countries, international organizations. However there are few of empirical studies investigating the relationship and interaction mechanisms between climate change and women’s political empowerment under the background of sustainable development. Here, using a two-way fixed-effects model, and a large balanced panel data of 132 countries from 1995 to 2023, we provide new evidence on the relationship and interaction mechanisms between climate change and women’s political empowerment. We conclude that climate change has a negative impact on women’s political empowerment and income inequality magnifies the effect. Subsample analysis shows the negative impact is particularly pronounced in countries with right-wing parties in power and high levels of economic development. Moreover, government efficiency, political stability and sustainable development ability slows down the impact of climate change on women’s political empowerment and has a positive moderating effect. Our paper provides new insights for research in related fields.