Environmental Performance and Women’s Empowerment: Is the Participation of Women in Decision-Making Associated with Stronger Environmental Policies?

Abstract

A small but growing research literature has found positive correlations between the participation of women in political decision-making and the comprehensiveness of the environmental policies in a country. In this thesis, I hypothesize that political empowerment of women is associated with greater environmental protection. Using a comprehensive dataset covering 194 countries in the time span between 2007 and 2015, I find substantial empirical support for my hypothesis. The results of this statistical analysis with aggregate indicators for female empowerment and environmental performance suggest that a positive and statistically significant association between both variables exists. This finding is robust to the inclusion of confounding factors such as GDP per capita, GDP growth, level of democratization, urbanization, industrialization, military expenditures, and globalization, and is consistent with the existent body of research. From a policy perspective, these results support the notion that legislators promoting comprehensive efforts towards promoting gender equality could potentially enjoy the added benefit of stronger environmental policies and protection efforts.