Document Type
Article
Source of Publication
Discover Sustainability
Publication Date
12-1-2025
Abstract
This study addresses a critical gap in the literature by exploring the intricate relationships between women’s empowerment, financial development, and natural resource management within the context of environmental sustainability in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Utilizing the Women, Business, and Law Index to quantify women’s socioeconomic empowerment alongside the ecological footprint as a metric for environmental sustainability, this study employs an autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to analyze data from 1990 to 2021. The findings reveal that women’s empowerment exerts a significant positive effect on environmental sustainability in both the short and long term. While financial development and natural resource rents also play roles in enhancing environmental outcomes, the long-term impact of natural resource rents is found to be statistically insignificant. Notably, the study uncovers a positive synergistic relationship between women’s empowerment and financial development as well as between women’s empowerment and natural resource rents, underscoring their complementary roles in advancing sustainable environmental objectives. Among the control variables examined, urbanization has been shown to positively influence long-term environmental sustainability, whereas foreign direct investment has a detrimental effect. Interestingly, the gross domestic product (GDP) has no significant statistical impact on environmental outcomes. Based on these insights, this study offers targeted policy recommendations, including the enhancement of women’s education and training in environmental sciences, promotion of gender-responsive green finance initiatives, and increased representation of women in natural resource management. These strategies aim to fortify sustainable governance and contribute to the UAE’s broader environmental sustainability goal.
DOI Link
ISSN
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
6
Issue
1
Disciplines
Business
Keywords
ARDL, Ecological footprint, Environmental sustainability, Financial development, Natural resources rents, UAE, Women empowerment
Scopus ID
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Elmassah, Suzanna and Hassanein, Eslam A., "Advancing environmental sustainability in the UAE: the interplay of women’s empowerment, financial development, and natural resource management" (2025). All Works. 7559.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/7559
Indexed in Scopus
yes
Open Access
yes
Open Access Type
Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series