Empowering Women through Tourism and Financial Development: Empirical Evidence from Upper Middle-Income Economies

Abstract

The concept of women’s empowerment in this study focuses on international tourism, economic growth, financial development and financial inclusion among others as integral aspects that would help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Using panel data from 15 Upper Middle-Income Countries between 1995 and 2017, the study employs cutting edge approaches such as fixed-effect models, random effect models, GMM and robust LS regressions to identify major impacts. The results show a strong relationship between these factors regarding women’s empowerment with clear impacts on self-employment among the women and increased participation in serviceability and industrial areas. In particular, these factors play a very important role in total employment of women. The analysis reinforces the ability of international tourism, economic growth, financial development and financial inclusion to facilitate women’s empowerment in Upper Middle-Income Countries. This study illuminates the complex realities that guide how a woman participates in power structures, which partly exposes broad aspiration of sustainable development.