Women Empowerment and Globalization Evidence from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Countries

Abstract

How do rising levels of international interconnectedness affect social, economic and political conditions for women? Research on gender and international relations frequently offers clear propositions but seldom submits them to broad, quantitative testing. This chapter attempts to fill that gap. We attempt to answer the question: Do increasing cross-national exchange and communication lead to improvements in the status and equality of women in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) countries? We have measured women empowerment with the economic, political and social rights of women. The empirical analysis is based on Order Logit model. The results show that globalization in the form of trade improves the economic, political and social rights of women while in the form of foreign direct investment (FDI) its favorable impact is limited to only political rights of women.