Guest editorial: Women and the environment

Citation

Hassaballa, H. and Paparas, D. (2022), "Guest editorial: Women and the environment", Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies, Vol. 15 No. 3, pp. 217-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCEFTS-10-2022-076

We would like to welcome you to “Women and the Environment”, a special issue of the Journal of Chinese Economic and Foreign Trade Studies. There is an ongoing debate on the nature and direction of the relationship between women and the environment. The topic, in specific, is interesting due to its broad scope, as it has economic, sociological and behavioural dimensions. In addition, it has huge implications in promoting sustainable development. Hence, the purpose of this special issue is to provide a comprehensive view of the women-environment relationship through presenting research papers that analyse this relationship from different angles. Papers shedding light on the observed impact of women on the environment, the future implications and strategies to take the outmost of women-environment relationship were considered. We hope that the special issue papers constitute a step forward to have a better understanding of women–environment relationship and pave the way for other interested researchers in this matter to investigate this relationship further. The special issue papers study women–environment relationship from economic, social and cultural perspectives. This is done in both developing and developed countries through examining the effect of gender bias on environmental quality, effect of social initiatives on women and land relationship, women’s vulnerability during natural disasters, women-environment two-way relationship, gender diversity in corporate boards effect on the environment and the effect of women’s savings on rural development.

For instance, in the paper by Elish, the impact of the gender gap on the ecological footprint (EFP) corresponding to its different quantiles is investigated. Quantile panel regression for 24 countries during the period 2006 to 2017 is used. The main finding in this paper is that the gender gap effect on EFP varies in accordance with quantiles. The main value of this paper is the use of the quantile panel regression, which is rarely used in gender and environmental studies.

In the same line but from a different angle, the paper by Sileem and Al-Ayouty studies the effect of gender equality on the carbon intensity of well-being (CIWB). This is done for the MENA region and Turkey during the period 1995–2018 using the two-way fixed effects Prais–Winsten regression with panel-corrected standard errors. Again, their results showed mixed effects on CIWB. In one hand, the increase of female educational attainment and the female labour force participation rate decrease CIWB. On the other hand, the younger female population and the younger population, in general, increase CIWB. This is a quite interesting topic due to its implications in ecological efficiency in the MENA region and Turkey in specific and in integrating the gender equality dimension in the CIWB–climate change literature in general.

The paper by Khodary incorporates the sociocultural dimension in studying the relationship between women and sustainability. This is done through assessing how perceptions and practices of rural communities in Sohag and Assuit governorates in Egypt towards women’s ownership and inheritance of land varies because of feminist organisations social initiatives. The paper uses survey analysis complemented by eight focus group discussions with different societal groups to gain a deeper perspective. What is so worthy of this paper is its finding of the positive effect of social initiatives in altering the social norms and practices regarding women–land relationship.

This is of vital importance as other developing countries can follow suit with the same approach to attain rural and sustainable development by overcoming the existing sociocultural barriers.

Furthermore, George et al., in their paper, study women’s vulnerability during the recent floods in the rural areas of Indian state of Kerala. Questionnaires and ordered logistic regression models are used to investigate the relationship between women’s vulnerability during floods and various socioeconomic determinants. This paper contributes to a have a better understanding of women–environment relationship as it sheds light on the importance of access to credit, information and higher income for women to reduce their vulnerability in front of any natural disaster.

On the other hand, Hassaballa’s paper provides a comprehensive literature review of women and environment relationship. Furthermore, it studies the two-way relationship between women and the environment through a Granger Causality test and further assesses the effect of women on environmental quality using an error correction model. The finding of the paper on the positive effect of women on environmental quality in developing countries has a huge implication for women empowerment, gender bias reduction and directing government expenditure towards improving women’s education and health levels.

Jibril et al., in their paper, studied the effect of corporate board gender on energy disclosure in 49 firms in Nigeria. Content analysis techniques are used to obtain data on environmental disclosure using Global Reporting Initiative standards. Random effects regression results show the board gender diversity is significantly related to energy disclosure. This finding is valuable as promoting gender diversity in corporate boards will make firms gain legitimacy across demographic, ethnic and religious groups in society leading to more social prosperity, over and above improving environmental quality.

Shaaban, in her paper, tackles women and rural sustainability through enhancing the Village Saving and Loans Association (VSLA) in rural Egypt. A qualitative approach is used to study this relationship. Indeed, the VSLA approach improves economic and financial hardship for women, which, in turn, affect their families and their rural community at large. This paper is unique in using the VSLA as an intervention approach in rural Egypt as a way to promote rural sustainability. This can be mimicked by other developing countries with the same rural conditions as that of Egypt.

Finally, Buallay and Alhalwachi study the relationship between board gender diversity and environmental disclosure (ED), similar to Jibril et al., but in the banking sector. The random effects model is also used, and the main finding again highlights the significant positive effect on ED disclosure when female board members were between 21% and 50%. This alarming result necessitates having gender diversity in banking boards to enhance environmental disclosure.

All in all, many valuable papers were submitted to the issues with diverse implications. We would like to thank our dear reviewers for their valuable insights and feedback that definitely have enhanced the quality of the papers. As a step forward, it will be interesting to develop an action plan to face the challenges that hinder women–environment relationship and to foster further the enabling factors that contribute positively to this relationship.