Women's Empowerment Matters: Evidence from the Health and Education Sectors in Developing Worlds

Abstract

This study examines the effect of female empowerment on child development in developing countries. Using comprehensive panel data from seventy-eight developing countries between 2000 and 2018, this research assesses the impact of political and economic empowerment of females on the health and education of children. The major findings include (1) that GDP per capita, health expenditure, and the official development assistance are not significantly reducing immunization, child mortality, and primary school enrollment; (2) that women's empowerment in political and economic fields is not significantly affecting the above-mentioned dependent variables; and (3) that when those two kinds of explanatory variables interact, women's empowerment is positively associated with immunization rate and primary school enrollment rate in countries with an income level lower than 1,500–2,000 USD, mainly located in East Africa. Such findings suggest that in certain economic levels, female empowerment and child development policies are complementary and should go hand in hand.