Women's Rights and Foreign Direct Investment: An Empirical Assessment
Year: 2011
Type: preprint
Abstract: Though women play an increasingly active role in the global economy, the prospective impact of gender upon the global economy has been largely ignored. Towards better understanding the role of gender in shaping the global economy, we assess the impact of women's rights upon a key facet of economic globalization, foreign direct investment (FDI). Much of the growth of global FDI has been in pink collar jobs in services and light manufacturing industries, and the prospective relationship between the rights of women and foreign investment has been contentious. In particular, it is often argued that investors may value women as a source of inexpensive and compliant labor, and may thus seek to locate to host countries where the rights of women are constrained. However, to the extent that the protection of women's rights signifies a higher level of human capital and societal participation, such rights may serve to attract investors who seek a more skilled labor force. We thus empirically assess the linkage between women's rights and FDI, specifically how the economic, educational, and political rights of women influence FDI, and how this impact varies across different industrial sectors.
Source: SSRN Electronic Journal
Institution: University of Alabama at Birmingham
Language: English
Subfield: Strategy and Management
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2100652384