Thresholds of income inequality that mitigate the role of gender inclusive education in promoting gender economic inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to provide the thresholds of inequality that should not be exceeded if gender inclusive education is to enhance gender inclusive formal economic participation in sub-Saharan Africa. Design/methodology/approach The empirical evidence is based on the generalised method of moments and data from 42 countries during the period 2004-2014. Findings The following findings are established. First, inclusive tertiary education unconditionally promotes gender economic inclusion, while the interaction between tertiary education and inequality is unfavourable to gender economic inclusion. Second, a Gini coefficient that nullifies the positive incidence of inclusive tertiary education on female labour force participation is 0.562. Second, the Gini coefficient and Palma ratio that crowd-out the negative unconditional effects of inclusive tertiary education on female unemployment are 0.547 and 6.118, respectively. Third, a 0.578 Gini coefficient, a 0.680 Atkinson index and a 6.557 Palma ratio are critical masses that wipe out the positive unconditional effects of inclusive tertiary education on female employment. The findings associated with lower levels of education are not significant. Practical implications As the main policy implication, income inequality should not be tolerated above the established thresholds for gender inclusive education to promote gender inclusive formal economic participation. Other implications are discussed in the light of sustainable development goals. Originality/value This study complements the existing literature by providing inequality thresholds that should not be exceeded for gender inclusive education to promote the involvement of women in the formal economic sector.

Gender, political inclusion, and democracy in Africa: Some empirical evidence

“…Source: Authors' computation from V-DEM data. (Asongu & Odhiambo, 2020c). By induction, therefore, education can be substituted by gender in the model of Kratou and Laakso (2022) to obtain Equation (1).…”

Gender political inclusion and democracy in Africa: some empirical evidence

“…Based on attendant literature on the determinants of democracy (Bhattacharyya and Hodler, 2014;Omgba, 2015;Coulibalya and Omgba, 2021;Oskarsson and Ottosen, 2010), our model is specified as in Equation (1). In essence, literature has it that quality education enhances democracy Kratou and Laakso, 2022), at the same time, an increase in educational quality reduces the gender gap in the economy (Asongu and Odhiambo, 2020). By induction therefore, education can be substituted by gender in the model of Kratou and Laakso (2022) to obtain Equation (1).…”