Inequality and economic development: a test of the feminization hypothesis in selected African countries

This paper examines the gender inequality and economic development nexus for eight selected African countries. Data for the study were collected from the World Bank's World Development Indicators for the period 1994-2018. The study employs the Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag model and an error correction mechanism to ascertain the relationship that exists between the variables of interest. To measure the socio-economic and political status of women in the selected African countries, we focus on the following two indicators: female labor force participation, and the proportion of seats held by women in the national parliament. Our findings are inconsistent for different countries. On one hand, we find that in the long run female labor force participation enhances economic development in the following countries: Botswana, Egypt, and Mauritius. On the other hand, the results reveal that the number of female members in the national parliament and female labor force participation decline with advances in economic development in Tunisia and Gabon. We propose that policies that increase women's access to higher education, female labor force participation, and women's representation in the political space are imperative for women's empowerment and economic development in Africa.