科学和工程领域的女性：为什么工业部门的平等就业对发展中国家的经济多样化至关重要（英）

11211 Women in Sciences and Engineering Why Leveling Employment in Industrial Sectors Mattersfor Economic Diversification in Developing CountriesPublic Disclosure Authorized Yselle Flora Malah-KueteDésiré AvomLuc Désiré Omgba Africa RegionOffice of the Chief EconomistSeptember 2025 Policy Research Working Paper11211 Abstract While the importance of export diversification is empha-sized in development patterns, the gender issues in thisprocess are rarely covered. This paper empirically assessesthe contribution of women’s sectoral employment to theexport diversification process, using a panel model of 125developing countries from 1991 to 2018. The resultsobtained after several simulations and robustness tests toaccount for potential sources of endogeneity show that, overall, women’s employment in different economic sectorspositively affects the level of export diversification in devel-oping countries. However, this positive effect is not evidentin the primary sector, although it is significant when womenare employed in the industrial and service sectors. Specifictraining in sciences, engineering, and technology througheducation is the underlying mechanism that explains theresults. This paper is a product of the Office of the Chief Economist, Africa Region. It is part of a larger effort by the World Bankto provide open access to its research and make a contribution to development policy discussions around the world. PolicyResearch Working Papers are also posted on the Web at http://www.worldbank.org/prwp. The authors may be contactedat florayselle27@yahoo.com. The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about developmentissues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry thenames of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely thoseof the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank andits affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent. Women in Sciences and Engineering: Why Leveling Employment inIndustrial Sectors Matters for Economic Diversification in DevelopingCountries Yselle Flora Malah-KueteFaculty of Economics and Managment, University of Yaounde 2, 135 Yaounde, Cameroon,florayselle27@yahoo.com Désiré AvomFaculty of Economics and Managment, University of Yaounde 2, 135 Yaounde, Cameroon,Email:davom99@gmail.com Keywords:export diversification, economic transformation, women's employment, STEMeducation, gender and development, developing countries. Code JEL:J16, J24, F1, O14, O54. Note:This paper was independently developed by the author during her consultant appointment at theWorld Bank’s Office of the Chief Economist for the Africa Region under the WB-AERC Fellowship. Itbenefited from constructive feedback received during internal seminars with World Bank staff,including the author’s TTL, Mr. Woubet Kassa. Acknowledgments:We thank the participants and discussants of the World Bank seminar in April 2024in Washington, D.C., for their insightful comments and suggestions. The opinions expressed herein arethose of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the World Bank or its affiliatedinstitutions. Introduction Economic diversification is a fundamental issue for developing countries to cope withconstraints associated with the dependence on commodity exports (Prebisch,1950; Singer,1950; Imbs and Wacziarg, 2003; Cadot et al., 2010). Theoretically, it has been argued thatdiversification promotes growth by increasing factor productivity, especially labor productivity(Romer, 1990). Diversification also broadens the possibilities for spreading investment risks(Acemoglu and Zilibotti, 1997). Non-exhaustive empirical studies have produced diverse butcomplementary results. They show that diversification strengthens the resilience of economies(Karanfil and Omgba, 2023), promotes job creation (Ben Hammouda et al., 2006), reducesoutput volatility, and stabilizes the macroeconomic framework (Acemoglu and Zilibotti, 1997;Sachs and Warner, 2001; Gylfason and Nganou. 2014; Ross 2018, Lederman et al., 2019). This importance of diversification for development has led to an extensive body of literature toidentify its determinants. As a result, several determinants of export diversification arepresented in that literature. This includes income level (Imbs and Wacziarg, 2003; Klinger andLederman, 2006), international trade (Cadot et al., 2010), geographic distance to major markets(Parteka and Tamberi, 2008; Agosin et al., 2012), and institutions (Gylfason, 2006; Gelb, 2010;Omgba, 2014; Boschma andGianluca, 2015). However, the non-exhaustive and non-consensual nature of these determinants