Does monetary poverty reduction through gender empowerment work?

Figures & data

Figure 1. Population of people living in poverty.

Figure 2. Poverty rate in Ghana.

Source: Author’s compilation (2023).

Table 1. Description statistics and Pearson correlation.

Variables	EX_PEN	WSO_EMP	WEC_EMP	AGE_MAR	ASS_VAL	SCH_ATT	LEV_EDU	LIT_READ	LIT_WRITE	LIT_REA_WRI	HHH_GEN
Description statistics
Mean	477.2050	0.2344	0.2121	25.3040	44,102.07	1.8000	9.9390	1.6210	1.6040	7.3250	1.4970
Standard deviation (SD)	473.4940	0.3800	0.9170	21.3600	403,880.65	0.4000	4.2550	0.6470	0.5680	2.4300	0.5000
Minimum	0.0110	−1.4750	−1.0330	0.2231	1.2444	1.0000	1.0000	1.0000	1.0000	1.0000	1.0000
Maximum	7,355.2000	0.3990	0.8940	120.0000	20,000,119.00	2.0000	22.0000	4.0000	4.0000	15.0000	2.0000
Observation	56,662	56,661	56,661	56,662	56,658	56,662	56,660	56,659	56,661	56,662	56,662
Expected sign	?	–/+	–/+	–	+	–	–	–	–	-/+	-/+
Pearson Correlation
WSO_EMP		1
WEC_EMP		−0.062*	1
AGE_MAR		−0.021*	0.019*	1
ASS_VAL		0.001	−0.002	0.007	1
SCH_ATT		0.062*	−0.018*	−0.156*	−0.004	1
LEV_EDU		0.004	0.001	−0.029*	−0.002	0.034*	1
LIT_READ		−0.012*	−0.014*	−0.004	0.003	0.014*	0.001	1
LIT_WRITE		−0.010*	0.005	0.006	−0.001	−0.103*	−0.001	−0.066*	1
LIT_REA_WRI		−0.013*	0.010*	−0.033*	−0.001	−0.002	0.319*	0.019*	−0.008*	1
HHH_GEN		0.015*	−0.018*	−0.026*	−0.003	0.056*	0.001	−0.029*	−0.008	0.001	1

***p < 0.01.

**p < 0.05.

*p < 0.1.

Table 2. Fixed effect, locality of residence and household heads gender.

	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3	Model 4	Model 5
	Fixed effect	Locality of residence		Household heads gender
Variables		Rural	Urban	Male	Female
WSO_EMP	−41.2627***	−199.6422**	−199.6422**	−12.5861	−58.0839***
	(9.0598)	(90.1994)	(90.1994)	(18.1294)	(11.7242)
WEC_EMP	4.0378	64.9392	64.9392	11.3567	−2.3278
	(4.2351)	(43.6737)	(43.6737)	(14.3392)	(5.2635)
AGE_MAR	−1.0230***	2.4334	2.4334	−0.8898***	−1.1962***
	(0.1033)	(2.0727)	(2.0727)	(0.1791)	(0.1643)
ASS_VAL	0.2341***	−0.2431	−0.2030	0.2341***	0.2311***
	(0.1245)	(0.2455)	(0.2111)	(0.2211)	(0.2111)
SCH_ATT	104.5751***	119.2985	119.2985	40.9681***	117.9665***
	(5.3537)	(74.4465)	(74.4465)	(7.4642)	(7.9301)
LEV_EDU	−0.2145	22.6826**	22.6826**	−0.0456	−0.7341
	(0.5837)	(10.2858)	(10.2858)	(0.8186)	(0.9176)
LIT_READ	−272.8567***	−523.1922***	−523.1922***	−290.6059***	−273.9777***
	(8.1276)	(149.8578)	(149.8578)	(12.1817)	(14.6519)
LIT_WRITE	246.4397***	64.3903	64.3903	232.6583***	222.9805***
	(7.1723)	(120.2171)	(120.2171)	(11.0955)	(12.9489)
LIT_REA_WRI	2.5670**	8.6256	8.6256	−0.6225	4.0083*
	(1.2330)	(15.3059)	(15.3059)	(1.9598)	(2.1699)
HHH_GEN	10.0499**	−206.0153**	−206.0153**	–
	(4.4873)	(84.7241)	(84.7241)
Constant	326.5191***	871.3047**	871.3047**	527.2277***	355.5229***
	(25.5080)	(425.3011)	(425.3011)	(37.1471)	(40.8930)
Observations	50,100	7,008	7,008	12,203	25,372
Number of ID	19,164	6,894	6,894	14,342	14,646
R-squared	0.6926	0.3024	0.3024	0.3012	0.5770

Standard errors in parentheses.

***p < 0.01.

**p < 0.05.

*p < 0.1.

Table 3. Locality and ecological zones.

	Model 6	Model 7	Model 8	Model 9	Model 10		Model 11
Variables	Rural coastal	Rural forest	Rural savannah	Urban savannah	Urban coastal		Urban forest
WSO_EMP	−144.2294***	−111.4326***	31.8748**	−20.8616	10.4215		−130.7793***
	(32.0286)	(20.0524)	(13.7146)	(29.3319)	(42.6148)		(26.4426)
WEC_EMP	−15.3888	−22.4136**	6.2157	13.2781	0.8293		42.2272***
	(15.6609)	(9.4228)	(6.1940)	(13.2316)	(19.0853)		(13.2977)
AGE_MAR	−1.1317***	−1.6339***	0.3176*	−0.8469**	−2.4266***		−2.6059***
	(0.3876)	(0.2106)	(0.1707)	(0.3579)	(0.4641)		(0.2773)
ASS_VAL	0.0267***	0.2221***	0.1111***	0.2231*	0.1131**		0.1122***
	(0.0122)	(0.2010)	(0.0234)	(0.1233)	(0.1231)		(0.0123)
SCH_ATT	86.0326***	57.3141***	177.7408***	106.9195***	94.8628***		−21.6388
	(22.0849)	(11.5164)	(7.9622)	(18.4564)	(27.3401)		(15.8827)
LEV_EDU	−4.8149**	1.1856	−0.9553	−2.2109	−2.0657		1.5503
	(2.3699)	(1.1879)	(1.0049)	(2.0127)	(2.6763)	(1.4478)
LIT_READ	−273.3690***	−325.6119***	−217.6626***	−159.3655***	−324.2565***		−309.7597***
	(34.3503)	(15.6600)	(14.3806)	(31.6782)	(37.3561)		(19.9052)
LIT_WRITE	314.0067***	269.2782***	212.7120***	231.2401***	283.9066***		215.5378***
	(30.0540)	(14.3496)	(13.4961)	(26.2221)	(32.8340)		(16.7767)
LIT_REA_WRI	−5.7644	12.1717***	−2.9318	−4.1256	5.8870		3.9160
	(5.2578)	(2.6426)	(2.1780)	(4.3197)	(6.1043)		(2.8270)
HHH_GEN	5.5678	25.7451***	−28.8564***	15.4874	10.1755		69.3440***
	(16.7509)	(9.1168)	(7.6396)	(15.3268)	(21.3669)		(11.5098)
Constant	387.6935***	364.4177***	192.4188***	233.6276**	497.0390***		639.3342***
	(106.8318)	(51.1080)	(41.9925)	(96.3469)	(119.5149)		(66.7070)
Observations	4,237	15,113	17,952	4,253	2,673		8,560
Number of ID	1,470	5,184	5,985	1,418	933		2,884
R-squared	0.1117	0.3377	0.2971	0.4712	0.3273		0.2466

Note: Model 1 reports regression results for the variable of interest only, Model 2 reports regression results for the variable of interest and the control variables only and Model 3 shows the regression results for the entire variables. The Model 3 is used for the results discussions.

Standard errors in parentheses.

***p < 0.01.

**p < 0.05.

*p < 0.1.

Figure 3. Dominance analysis.

Source: Author’s computations (2023).