Low Equality for Women, Slower Economic Growth for All? Evidence from D-8 Countries

Abstract

Gender equality promotes economic improvement and reduces income inequality. Considering the goal of all countries to achieve faster and stronger economic growth, improving gender equality may represent a promising solution. This paper examines the link between gender equality and economic growth in the ‘Developing Eight’ (D-8) countries from 1998 to 2021. This study provides estimation using a system GMM and panel causality test to determine the effect of gender equality on economic growth. The results indicate a positive and significant effect of gender equality on economic output in D-8 countries. Heterogenous panel non-causality findings suggest that gender equality and economic output have a bidirectional relationship in D-8 countries, indicating that economic output also affects gender equality.