Does Women Empowerment Promote Sustainable Development in Developing Countries?

ABSTRACT On the question of whether women empowerment is a vector of sustainable development or not, the jury is still out. This study probes into the relationship between various aspects of women empowerment (political and socioeconomic) and sustainable development, taking into account the environment, social, and economic dimensions. The paper uses the system Generalized Method of Moments to analyze data from 44 developing African economies (1996–2022). Results show that women's socioeconomic empowerment (WSE) enhances economic and social development, while women's political empowerment (WPE) promotes economic development. However, pollution emissions are associated with both WSE and WPE, thereby revealing that women empowerment is detrimental to environmental conservation in Africa. The results further reveal that WPE impedes social development across African countries. When the global panel is disaggregated into subregional groups, the economic development‐enhancing role of women empowerment remains evident in both sub‐regions. Similarly, though nonsignificant, the environment‐degrading effect of women empowerment is consistent across sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) and North African countries. However, the effects of women empowerment on social development are divergent across sub‐regions. While WSE and WPE hinder social development in SSA, women empowerment fosters social development in Northern African countries. These findings are statistically robust to alternative contemporary estimation techniques and suggest that governmental programs aimed at empowering women do not seem to pay substantial attention to environmental challenges. A similar scenario seems evident for WPE as regards social development actions. It is therefore necessary for policymakers to design policies aimed at educating women on socially and environmentally sustainable practices.