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This review paper aims to contribute to the growing literature on women empowerment in tourism by identifying knowledge gaps that may offer opportunities for further research.

A critical review of the literature on women empowerment in tourism was conducted.

The review reveals four knowledge gaps in relation to methodology, geographical location, study context and theoretical framework adopted. Pertinent research includes mostly qualitative research with a focus on non-Western geographical locations. Studies examined women empowerment in relation to alternative tourism forms with several not adopting a theoretical framework. Based on these gaps, suggestions for further research are made.

Although this paper does not aim at providing an exhaustive review of the gender literature, it highlights the narrow focus placed on women empowerment in tourism and suggests avenues for further research.

Women empowerment has only recently begun to attract attention in tourism. This paper adds to extant knowledge on gender tourism studies by suggesting ways to achieve gender equality for sustainable development.

本综述旨在通过确定可能为进一步研究提供机会的知识差距, 对旅游业中妇女赋能的文献做出贡献。

对关于在旅游业中赋予妇女权利的文献进行了批判性综述。

在研究方法、地理位置、研究情境和所采用的理论框架方面, 本综述揭示了四个知识差距。相关研究主要包括关注非西方地理位置的定性研究。研究检验了与其他旅游形式有关的妇女赋权问题, 其中有几项研究没有采用理论框架。基于这些差距提出进一步研究的建议。

虽然本文的目的不是对性别文献进行详尽的审查, 但它强调了对旅游业中妇女赋能的狭隘关注, 并提出了进一步研究的途径。

妇女赋能最近才开始在旅游业引发关注。本文通过提出实现可持续发展的性别平等的途径, 拓展了性别旅游研究的现有知识。

El objetivo de este trabajo de revisión es contribuir a las crecientes publicaciones sobre el empoderamiento de la mujer en el turismo, identificando la brecha de conocimiento que puede ofrecer oportunidades para futuros estudios.

Se llevó a cabo una revisión crítica de la bibliografía sobre el empoderamiento de la mujer en el turismo.

El análisis revela cuatro brechas de conocimiento con relación a la metodología, situación geográfica, contexto de estudio y el marco teórico adoptado. La presente investigación incluye en su mayoría estudios cualitativos centrado en las localizaciones geográficas no occidentales. Los estudios examinaron el empoderamiento de la mujer con relación a las formas de turismo alternativo, y varios de ellos no adoptaron un marco teórico. A partir de estas lagunas, se hacen sugerencias para futuras investigaciones.

Aunque este artículo no pretende ofrecer una revisión exhaustiva de la literatura sobre género, pone de relieve la escasa atención prestada al empoderamiento de la mujer en el turismo y sugiere vías para futuras investigaciones.

El empoderamiento de la mujer sólo ha empezado a ser objeto de atención en el turismo recientemente. Este artículo se suma a los conocimientos existentes sobre estudios turísticos de género al sugerir vías para lograr la igualdad de género en aras del desarrollo sostenible.

This study aims to investigate the connection between digital literacy and women’s empowerment in the rural Himachal Pradesh. It explores how improved digital skills contribute to increased empowerment among women with a specific focus on the role of education in enhancing digital literacy.

This study included 250 rural participants who completed structured questionnaires. Analytical tools, including independent-sample t-tests and partial least squares structural equation modeling, were applied to the data to gain insights into the relationship between digital literacy and women’s empowerment.

This study revealed a significant positive link between digital literacy and women’s empowerment in the rural Himachal Pradesh context. Education has emerged as a key factor that influences women’s digital skills and empowerment levels.

This research adds novelty by examining the digital literacy–women’s empowerment nexus in rural Himachal Pradesh and emphasizing the impact of education. The combination of statistical methods offers a robust approach to understanding this relationship and underscores the importance of digital inclusion and education for gender equality and women’s progress.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of Islamic finance on women empowerment in Africa between the periods of 1975 and 2021.

This paper uses secondary data for 27 African countries obtained from the World Development Indicators, World Population Review and the Varieties of Democracy databases. Four dimensions of women empowerment, namely, economic, social, political and household, are considered while Islamic finance is proxied by a binary variable with 1 and 0 representing the presence and the absence of Islamic finance, respectively. The two-staged least square estimation technique is used to control for the problem of endogeneity.

This study revealed that Islamic finance positively affects women empowerment in Africa. Specifically, Islamic finance has positive and significant effects on women political empowerment, women economic empowerment and women social empowerment in Africa but nonsignificant effect on home empowerment. These effects are more pronounced in middle-income than in low-income countries and in countries with higher penetration rate of Islamic finance.

Policymakers should put in place the necessary mechanisms for the promotion of Islamic finance such as the enacting of laws that ensures the creation of full-fledged Islamic banks, encouraging research in Islamic finance and Islamic economics. These policies should equally be backed by the creation of some accompanying measures such as the abolition of social norms that limit women’s ability to take part in decision-making.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study involving an Africa continent-wide analysis of the effects of Islamic finance on women empowerment.

The main purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion in women empowerment and in fostering the process of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries using panel data from 2005 to 2020.

An ICT diffusion index was constructed using principal component analysis (PCA). Further, the study uses econometric techniques robust to cross-sectional dependence (CSD) which include Pesaran's CSD tests, second-generation unit root test, Pedroni, Kao, Westerlund cointegration test, FMOLS, DCCE, Driscoll–Kraay (DK) regression, and D&H causality tests.

ICT diffusion and economic growth have a significant and favorable impact on women's empowerment. However, fertility rates and trade openness harm women's empowerment. In addition, the causality test results depict a bidirectional causal relationship between ICT and women empowerment and between growth and women empowerment. In addition, unidirectional causality is detected between education and women's empowerment. Overall, the findings indicate that expanding ICT and bridging the digital divide, particularly among women, can be effective in achieving empowerment-related SDGs.

To date, there are hardly any studies in SAARC context that empirically evaluate the link between ICT, women empowerment, and the issue of sustainability in a unified framework. Therefore, this study is unique in terms of conceptualization and methodological robustness in this context. The study will benefit policymakers and regulatory bodies to formulate appropriate policies to empower women and thereby attain the SDGs by 2030.

This research aims to explore the role of banks in supporting women agriculture entrepreneurs (WAEs) to contribute towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It focusses on the experiences of women entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector, recognising their vital role in driving economic growth and achieving the SDGs.

The study utilises the role congruity theory and the feminist agri-food systems model as its theoretical framework. Qualitative data from 35 WAEs and 7 bank managers (BMs) responsible for agricultural financial services and business development are collected and thematically analysed to achieve the research objectives.

Although BMs claim they offer specialised financial products with dedicated support teams, WAEs express scepticism due to fears of unfavourable deals and excessive requirements. WAEs need more understanding of SDGs but recognise their substantial contributions. BMs acknowledge the need to enhance efforts, improve communication of offers and integrate SDGs across all business operations beyond agriculture and women-centric initiatives.

Banks must prioritise gender sensitivity and inclusivity for WAEs, offering tailored financial products and flexible loan structures. Microfinance and strategic marketing can enhance outreach. WAEs benefit from forming associations, accessing support networks, collaborating with banks, government agencies, non-governmental organisations and agricultural associations for mentoring and networking, and achieving the SDGs and sustainable agriculture.

The study connects WAEs and banks in achieving SDGs.

The main goal of the study is to participate in academic debates and explore women's leadership and related challenges and opportunities in governance, and the extent to which women’s leadership has been enhanced by administrative reforms. The goal is to broaden the scope of action by promoting women's engagement and leadership in local government.

This is a qualitative study that uses inductive content analysis to examine the relationship between administrative reforms and women’s leadership development in the context of local government in Southeast and South Asia.

There is a positive impact of administrative reforms on women's leadership development. There is evidence that women are preparing for leadership roles in administration, which is a sign of progress in political change and modernization of society. They have been empowered by political and administrative education in a transformative way.

This article contributes to the literature that expands knowledge about governance, female leadership and administrative reform. They are interrelated because they are precursors to the development of women's leadership in countries.

The findings of this study can help governments in South and Southeast Asia become more aware of strategies to promote gender balance in governance. The unsatisfactory situation was found to exist because of problems related to socio-political, economic, cultural, and personal development.

This study is the first to highlight the relationship between administrative reform and the development of women in leadership positions in a rarely studied developing country.

The social inclusion of immigrants has been a central public policy issue in European countries, and entrepreneurship is often promoted as a form of integration. Female immigrants face double discrimination of gender and ethnicity while becoming entrepreneurs. The aim of the paper is to investigate the female empowerment in the host country as a predictor of immigrant women engagement in entrepreneurship.

Based on panel data for European Union countries for years 2006–2021, female immigrant entrepreneurship was modelled by the impact of variables showing the empowerment of women in host countries. Data availability was the determinant regarding the inclusion of 22 countries: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden were all in the research sample.

Although immigrant entrepreneurship is highly context-oriented and locale-specific (as in the physical setting for relationships among people), some universal patterns for a group of countries are found. A stronger political and managerial position of power for the women in host countries encourages female immigrant entrepreneurship, while the gender pay gap is statistically insignificant.

The originality of the paper is due to the multi-country level and female-focused research perspectives in immigrant entrepreneurship. The study refers to the intersectionality of gender and ethnicity, arguing that the empowerment of women in host countries affects female immigrant entrepreneurship at the macro-level.

This paper delves into the critical role of women in the domains of architecture, engineering, construction and urban planning, particularly within the context of the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the imperative of achieving gender parity. Concentrating on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, this paper explores the profound importance of women as essential contributors to urbanisation and sustainable development. It scrutinizes the existing gender disparities within the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industries; evaluates prevailing women empowerment indices in diverse sectors; and presents a strategic framework for harnessing women’s engagement to cultivate inclusive and sustainable urban cultures in the GCC. This conceptual paper introduces an actionable framework that can serve as a guiding agenda for empowering women in the AEC sectors by incorporating their socio-cultural, economic and ecological contributions towards creating sustainable cities.

Centring its focus on Gulf Cities, this paper employs a comprehensive approach to examine the current gender disparities within the architecture, engineering and construction sectors. It probes potential barriers and advocates for leveraging women’s participation to foster inclusive and sustainable urban development in the GCC. The study introduces the Women’s Empowerment Index (WEI) for the Gulf AEC industry elucidating how these measures are translated into a tailored framework.

The paper presents a practical framework that provides actionable guidance for engaging various stakeholders, including governments, academia and industry players, to empower women within the AEC industries. An “Agenda for equitable AEC industries for sustainable urban development: Our Common Gulf Cities” is culminated in a Women Empowerment Index for the AEC Industry (WEI-AEC) designed to serve as a guidance tool to monitor progress within industry, governments and academia.

Future research endeavours could advance the framework by conducting institutional support analyses, multi-stakeholder collaboration studies and practical testing of the framework within real-world scenarios.

The findings of this study can guide and influence a diverse range of initiatives, including policy development, educational strategies, corporate endeavours, awareness campaigns, capacity-building programs, skill enhancement initiatives and knowledge exchange among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

This conceptual paper introduces a practical framework that can serve as a roadmap for implementing the study’s potential to shape policies, educational programs and corporate initiatives aimed at advancing both gender equality and the development of sustainable cities.

This study explores whether targeted microcredit can effectively alleviate households’ multidimensional relative poverty (MdRP) in rural China in the new era following the poverty elimination campaign and discusses it from a gendered perspective.

This study applies a fixed-effects model, propensity score matching (PSM) and two-stage instrumental variable method to two-period panel data collected from 611 households in rural western China in 2018 and 2021 to explore the effects, mechanisms and heterogenous performance of targeted microcredit on households’ MdRP in the new era.

(i) Targeted microcredit can alleviate MdRP among rural households in the new era, mainly by reducing income and opportunity inequality. (ii) Targeted microcredit can promote women’s empowerment, mainly by enhancing their social participation, thereby helping alleviate households’ MdRP. The effect of the targeted microcredit on MdRP is more significant in medium-educated women households and non-left-behind women households. (iii) The MdRP alleviation effect is stronger in villages with a high degree of digitalization.

Learn from the experience of targeted microcredit. Accurately identify poor groups and integrate loan design into financial health and women empowerment. Particularly, pay attention to less-educated and left-behind women households and strengthen coordination between targeted microcredit and digital village strategies.

This study clarifies the effect of targeted microcredit on women’s empowerment and households’ MdRP alleviation in the new era. It also explores its various effects on households with different female characteristics and regional digitalization levels, providing ideas for optimizing microcredit.

This research has been conducted to determine the core reasons for gender inequality and to evaluate the effectiveness of higher education as a sole solution to ensure gender equality.

This qualitative case study research explores the causes behind gender inequality, and interviews were conducted with 20 male and female graduates and five stakeholders. Liberal feminism theory has been employed to understand the phenomena.

The findings show that receiving a university degree cannot ensure gender equality and empowerment of women in Bangladesh. The key factors contributing to gender disparity are societal and a general deficiency of technical knowledge.

More policies should support women in every aspect of life, and the existing policies should be carefully followed. The government must ensure high-quality education, and people must show more significant concern by acquiring knowledge from quality education seeking gender equality.

This research fills the gap in the current literature by providing knowledge about the practical effectiveness of quality higher education in solving the problem of gender inequality, its core reasons and possible solutions in Bangladesh's context.