Is gender equality conducive to economic growth of developing countries?

Abstract

Gender equality is generally advocated on the basis of fairness and social justice. Its intrinsic value is widely recognized among academic and policy circles. However apart from its intrinsic value, it may also be considered important due to its significant implications for economic and development outcomes. In existing literature, despite a lot of discussion on its intrinsic value, relatively less focus has been paid to its functional aspect. This study is an attempt to empirically investigate the effect of gender equality on economic growth. By using panel data for developing countries of the world, we have found that gender equality has positive and significant effect on economic growth of developing countries.