Effects of women’s political empowerment on environmental crime in developing countries

The role of women’s political empowerment is attracting growing interest in the literature due to its potential implications for governance and sustainable development. However, its influence on environmental crime remains largely unexplored in the context of developing countries. This study aims to address this gap by analysing the relationship between women’s political empowerment and environmental crime across a panel of 65 developing countries over the period 2000–2022. The empirical analysis is based on panel data models incorporating fixed effects, allowing for the control of unobserved heterogeneity across countries. The results show that women’s political empowerment is associated with a significant reduction in environmental crime. This finding suggests that increased participation by women in political processes contributes to more environmentally friendly behaviours and policies. These findings also highlight the importance of promoting women’s political participation as a lever for strengthening environmental governance. They also call for greater consideration of institutional and economic dimensions in policies to combat environmental crime.