Investing in Women, Investing in the Planet: Quantifying the Impact of Women's Empowerment on Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

Objective: This study finds out the correlation between the indicators of women’s empowerment, including variables like gender parity index in tertiary education, female labour force participation and seats held by women in national parliament, and a variable of environmental sustainability such as CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita). The aim is to analyse existing datasets to know the impact of independent variables on dependent variable.   Method: The study uses multiple linear regression to evaluate the effects of independent variables indicators of women's empowerment on the dependent variable, CO2 emissions, using secondary data from the World Bank covering the years 1990 to 2022. The Breusch-Pagan and Breusch-Godfrey LM tests are used to look at heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation, respectively, and VIF is used to find multicollinearity.   Results and Conclusion: The study concludes that there is a statistically significant relationship between lower CO2 emissions and increases in the percentage of female seats in the national parliament (-3.73) and higher female labour force participation (-6.04). The gender parity index (GPI) in tertiary education, which is -0.2997, does not, however, appear to have a statistically significant impact on CO2 emissions.   Implications: This research can serve as a cause for redesigning gender-responsive environmental initiatives and promoting a more sustainable and equitable future.   Originality/Value: This study contributes empirical knowledge to the body of literature by showing the potential contribution of women's empowerment in addressing environmental issues and emphasising the significance of taking gender into account in environmental policy and decision-making processes.