Does Empowering Women and Achieving Gender Equality Contribute to Nation’s Output ? Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

The relationship between women empowerment and economic growth has been a popular debate among development economists. One of the popular arguments is that women contribute more to the development of a nation where there is provision for adequate opportunities for them to develop their potentials. The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between the dimensions of women empowerment (social, economic and political) and economic well-being in some selected 24 countries in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) for 2001-2015 period. The empowerment variables employed are female labour force participation (economic), secondary school enrollment of females and maternal mortality rate (social), proportion of seats held by women in the national parliament (political) and gross domestic product per capita (economic well being). Results from our analysis shows that the relationship between social empowerment and economic well-being is positive while economic empowerment and economic well-being is negative. Further investigation by sub-regions of SSA reveals that there exist differences by sub-regions as there is mixed results with differences in signs. However, investigation of the relationship with the use of interaction variables between each of the social empowerment variables and economic empowerment variable reveals that labour force participation of educated female and adequate health care resources accessible by women participating in the labour force both have positive relationship with economic well-being of SSA countries. The relationship between female health, representation of women in parliament and economic well-being show positive and statistical significance. Our findings imply that in as much as it is important to provide females with adequate and equal access to education and health care resources, it is also important to provide females with equal access to productive resources, formal employments and decision making mechanisms. This is a call to policy makers and administrators to take pragmatic steps to mitigate against all forms of gender-based discrimination; remove barriers that prevents female from showcasing their potentials; empower women socially, economically and politically simultaneously. Policy makers should take note of the differences among and within countries and sub-regions in sub-Saharan Africa in the planning process. Government should also amend the constitutions to capture the needs of women.