Tourism Development, Financial Inclusion and Governance: A Trio for Women Empowerment in Developing Countries

Abstract

Women empowerment refers to the ability to make economic, political, cultural and social choices by women as per their own will. Globally women face difficulties in exercising their right to choose their destiny which is even more challenging in developing economies as there are limited opportunities for women. Realizing the gravity of the issue the United Nations has placed women empowerment and gender equality as its 5th goal of the United Nations Sustainable Developing Goals (UN-SDGs). The study postulates the intriguing relationship of tourism development (TD) and financial inclusion (FI), while governance (GOVI) deployed as moderating variable. The study employed panel data of 39 developing economies for the years 2004-2020. Gender inequality index (GII) serves as a measure of women empowerment. The study employs Driscoll and Kraay (DK) standard error technique, as it addresses the issues of cross-sectional dependency, serial correlation and heteroskedasticity. The findings of study revealed that financial inclusion, governance and tourism development has a robust influence on women empowerment. Solid governance practices that are defined by inclusive policies are recommended in study to reduce gender inequalities and promoting the empowerment of women.

Keywords: Tourism Development, Financial Inclusion, Governance, Women Empowerment, Developing Countries