Integrating Equality - Globalization, Women’s Rights, and Human Trafficking

Abstract

This paper empirically investigates whether globalization can improve women’s rights. Using panel data from 150 countries over the 1981-2008 period, I find that social globalization positively affects women’s economic and social rights. When controlling for social globalization however, economic globalization does not have any effect on women’s rights. Despite the positive effect of (social) globalization on women’s standing in a country, (marginalized) foreign women, proxied with inflows of human trafficking, are not beneficiaries of such ‘female-friendly’ globalization effects.

Keywords: economic and social globalization, women’s rights, human trafficking

JEL Classification: F15, J13, J16, O16, O19