Does Mainstreamed Aid Advance Gender Parity? Insights from Empirical Evidence

This study investigates the effectiveness of gender-mainstreamed aid in mitigating gender inequality. We develop a robust theoretical model that accounts for the potential positive and perceived negative effects of shifts toward gender parity, capturing diverse societal perspectives. Utilizing a comprehensive dataset on aid activities focused on gender (in)equality and women’s empowerment across 118 countries from 2009 to 2022, primarily low-income nations, we employ panel fixed-effects and mixed-effects random coefficient models to examine the impact of gender-related aid on gender inequality. Our findings reveal that significant gender-related aid (SGRA), which integrates gender considerations into broader development projects, reduces gender inequality in 115 out of 118 countries. In contrast, principal gender-related aid (PGRA), which explicitly targets gender equality, shows significant effects in only 85 countries. When analyzing the effects of both components of gender-related aid, we find that SGRA consistently impacts gender inequality. However, the effectiveness of PGRA becomes less clear-cut. This observation, coupled with the variation in the effectiveness of the components across countries, underscores the importance of developing strategies tailored to country-specific needs and conditions in promoting gender parity effectively.