Women's Financial Empowerment and Environmental Sustainability
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47067/ramss.v8i4.593Keywords:
Women Financial Empowerment, Water Scarcity, Particulate Emissions, Net Forest Depletion, Environmental SustainabilityAbstract
A contemporary study investigates the various dimensions of women's financial empowerment in Pakistan and its impact on environmental sustainability from 1996 to 2024, based on data accessibility. Women's financial empowerment is explained with the Women, Business and Law index (WBLINDEX; The World Bank 2024). While the index shows the interface between inequality of opportunities for women and the labor market dynamics, it strengthens insights into how women's empowerment is affected by legal gender discrimination. The Environmental Sustainability index is structured in this study with the support of monetary values of gross domestic product per capita, current US$, net forest depletion US$, particulate emission damage US$, and level of water scarcity US$. For empirical evidence, on time series data, Ordinary Least Squares documents that women's financial empowerment has a powerful impact on environmental sustainability. The analysis further reveals that nearly all variation in environmental sustainability, supporting the dynamic role of stronger legal protections for women, contributes to more inclusive, productive, and environmentally sustainable economic outcomes. This corroborates the neoclassical economic theory that focuses on the strong emphasis of interconnection between natural resources and the vivid role of government to settle externalities (Willis, 2011). As far as control variables are concerned, foreign direct investment and population support environmental sustainability, while poverty rate and trade rate detriment environmental sustainability. The findings provide valuable insights for enlarging opportunities for women's financial empowerment for the required environmental sustainability.
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