Achieving SDG 5, gender equality and empower all women and girls, in developing countries: how aid for trade can help?

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate whether aggregate and sectoral disbursement of aid for trade (AfT) facilitates achieving gender equality and women empowerment in aid-recipient developing countries for the period 2005–2019.Design/methodology/approachThe study develops static and dynamic panel data and empirical specifications and employs fixed effects and generalised method of moments (GMM) estimation techniques to estimate the impact of aggregate AfT and different categories of AfT on women empowerment. The study uses the Gender Inequality Index (GII) and Global Gender Gap Index (GGI) as the proxy measures of SDG-5, where the higher (lower) value of GII (GGI) implies higher gender disparities and lower women empowerment, and vice versa.FindingsThe study finds that aggregate AfT and aid disbursement for the development of economic infrastructure, productive capability building and trade policy and regulations contribute significantly to achieve women empowerment by reducing gender inequalities concerning the labour force and political participation, education enrolment and better healthcare and by increasing gender gap index in relation to economic participation, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. The impact of aggregate AfT and its different categories is found significant only in low- and lower-middle-income developing countries. The findings also indicate that the impact of AfT is not noticeably different across different regions of the world as well as the religious belief of the developing countries.Practical implicationsThe study recommends that more allocation of gender-responsive AfT, whether aggregated or disaggregated, significantly helps women empowerment and assists developing economies to achieve SDG-5.Originality/valueThis study is one of the few that investigate the impact of aggregate AfT on gender inequality and women empowerment. This is the foremost study that examines the effects of each individual category of AfT on women empowerment vis-à-vis SDG-5.

Empowering women agriculture entrepreneurs: banks' role in achieving sustainable development goals

“…While previous literature has examined women's participation in agriculture (Abraham and Pingali, 2020; Bilal et al ., 2023), the current study aims to shed light on a less explored area—the support provided by banks in achieving SDGs. This research expands our understanding of initiatives that empower women through bank programs in India (Al-Kubati and Selvaratnam, 2023) and trade aids that contribute to achieving SDG in developing countries (Roy and Xiaoling, 2022). The study acknowledges the challenges women face in accessing support from financial institutions and the importance of partnerships in working towards achieving SDGs.…”

“…A crucial aspect of the SDGs that has attracted less attention in the literature is women's role in achieving the SDGs (Agarwal, 2018;Bilal et al, 2023;Mohieldin et al, 2019). The 17 SDGs' trajectory concentrates more on measures to improve the lives of women and less on how women can contribute to the SDGs' completion (Ordonez-Ponce and Weber, 2022;Roy and Xiaoling, 2022;Sarvajayakesavalu, 2015). Women are potential beneficiaries of the goals and possess immeasurable strengths that can be geared towards the success of the SDGs (Hammawa and Hashim, 2016).…”

“…The study broadens the applicability of the feminist agri-food systems model to include WAEs in developing countries (McMahon, 2011;Tsiaousi and Partalidou, 2023;Sachs et al, 2016), addressing their challenges in accessing resources and navigating traditional gender roles and emphasising the need for gender-responsive bank marketing and financial services for entrepreneurs, considering the nature of their businesses (Al-Kubati and Selvaratnam, 2023;Soetan et al, 2021;Mogaji et al, 2021b). Notably, the study recognises the contextualised experiences of WAEs in contributing to SDGs despite limited awareness, emphasising their vital role in achieving these goals in their respective countries (Diaz-Sarachaga and Ariza-Montes, 2022; Roy and Xiaoling, 2022;Xue et al, 2018). This study also offers implications for policymakers, stakeholders and financial institutions on developing targeted strategies and interventions to empower women entrepreneurs, accelerating progress towards sustainable development in emerging economies.…”

“…First, this study extends the contextualised experiences of women to understand their contribution towards the SDGs while still dealing with the inherent challenges of the country in which they operate (Dawson et al ., 2019). Even though many of them are not aware of the exact meanings and descriptions of the goals, they are making efforts to contribute to these goals through their food production, ensuring there is no hunger, creating employment opportunities, ensuring there is no poverty and supporting gender equality (Al-Kubati and Selvaratnam, 2023; Roy and Xiaoling, 2022). Women entrepreneurs contribute to their localities, create jobs and generate additional work for suppliers and other spin-off business linkages (Iyiola and Azhu, 2014).…”

Unlocking the Path to Inclusive Growth: Examining the Impact of Financial Inclusion in Developing Economies

“…(1) Where, 𝑌 𝑖𝑡 , 𝐴 𝑖𝑡 , 𝐾 𝑖𝑡 , 𝐿 𝑖𝑡 respectively denote the aggregate production, the total factor productivity, total capital stock and total labor of country i at year t. Following Bhagwati (1978), Balasubramanya et al (1996), Roy and Xiaoling (2022), and Hossain et al (2022, FI, domestic and foreign capital, labor force and other macroeconomic factors exogenously have an impact on total factor productivity (𝐴 𝑖𝑡 ). Therefore, we can define,…”