Does digital financial inclusion promote female employment? – Evidence from countries along the Belt and Road

This paper investigates how digital financial inclusion affects female employment in Belt and Road countries. Based on 2012–2023 panel data of 40 economies, fixed-effects and 2SLS estimations are applied, addressing endogeneity and robustness. Digital financial inclusion significantly boosts female employment with heterogeneous effects. By sector, it benefits female employment across services, industry and agriculture in descending order of magnitude. By income level, the promotion is stronger in lower-middle-income economies than upper-middle-income ones. Its employment-enhancing effect is also more pronounced for females than males. Mechanistically, it raises female employment by curbing adolescent female fertility and lifting female shareholding ratios. Besides, a double-threshold feature exists: its marginal effect grows stronger as digital financial inclusion expands.