Discussions Conclusions and Recommendations

Chapter 5: Discussions, Conclusions, and Recommendations

Interpretations of Findings

Comparison of the Findings

The peer-reviewed literature study carried out takes instances from various countries and studies to understand the positive and negative impact of FDI influx within the countries, in the end concluding that in majority case scenarios, FDI has proved to impact the country positively in terms of gender equality which is analyzed through two main factors; GDI (Gender Development Index) and GII (Gender Inequality Index). FDI influx in several countries has hired more female individuals, especially owing to the soft jobs, which are female-centric and led females to more managerial and leadership positions. With more multinational corporations, there is a proliferation in the technological influx in many countries, which calls for training and skill enhancement of the existing labor, causing more skilled female and male employees. This further improves women's condition and makes them more skilled with several competencies to compete in the job market.

However, the literature review also concludes that geographical location, the type of industries setting in from overseas, and the local cultural barriers and communities play a huge role in the impact it creates on gender equality, the gender wage gap, and several female workers. Since there has been no previous study conducted to understand the impact of FDI on gender equality, it is equated with the study carried out on other countries, which have been positively impacted in terms of gender equality and women empowerment. However, our study shows that their FDI does not impact the number of females being employed, while the influx of more FDI's gender wage gap is also increased. There is a strong relationship of FDI with more female leaders and managers, showing that on higher positions, the FDI has influenced more women-centric management, but given the relationship with the gender wage gap and the number of female employees, the gender disparity still exists within Uganda's formal sector.

Several factors thwart the technological spillover effect and the FDI in a local setting while in most cases, the influence is reliant upon the Foreign Direct Investor to cause impact within the local institutions. FDIs have created an enormous positive impact on gender equality and have been successful in some countries, as the literature review suggests, creating equal pay ranges and increasing women employment within the formal sector. However, there have been instances where FDI has not made any difference within the gender equation of employment and sometimes exacerbated the gender disparity due to external factors like overseas hiring of skilled male professionals, traditional local values, less skilled and qualified female workers, machinery intensive industrialization requiring male labors and many more. Since Uganda is one of the countries which has an extremely patriarchal society with discrimination happening at many areas of opportunities and access to these opportunities, FDI has not been able to create a huge impact in refining the lives of females; instead, it has increased the gender wage gap by hiring more number of female employees but paying them less than their male counterparts on the same positions.

Theoretical Framework

The results showed no strong relationship between FDI and the percentage of female workers showing that there is no direct effect of the influx of FDI on female employment. As Uganda consists of scant resources, their main industrial areas are extraction and manufacturing units, whereby the employee is more male-centric, increasing the demand for more male workers than female workers. Moreover, the women of Uganda are less skilled in terms of education, and the fabric of society is tailored to give preference to males over females, which hampers the effective spillover of FDI in terms of women empowerment and societal development through gender equality. Also, it impedes effective spillover in terms of labor demand and more female employees due to the culture of Uganda. The females living in Uganda are educationally deprived and have lower access to resources and opportunities than their male counterparts. To be accepted as a beneficiary for the nation, FDI sometimes has to direct according to society's traditional beliefs. These factors are why FDI has not influenced the share of women employment, nor has it created any negative effect on the employment disparity, which already exists in Uganda.

The outcome shows that there is a strong relationship between female leaders and the FDI. Since the rise of CSR activities and global campaigns, the Multinationals tend to design their workforce without gender discrimination, which shows that managerial spots are mostly reserved for females, and there has been a rise in female leaders for such corporations. Also, some levels and positions specialize and require a female workforce, causing FDI to include more females on such levels. Similarly, some types of work require technical mechanisms that females can only handle; thus, females' hiring for such roles, in this case, leadership and managerial roles, is inevitable. This study shows that even though FDI has no impact on the number of females employed, it does impact the hiring of female leaders and managers, showing their industry-specific nature regarding such positions and maintaining a global image regarding gender equality CSR consideration.

The gender wage gap is strongly related to the influx of FDI as per the findings, showing that FDI has increased the gender pay gap rather than decreasing it. Some studies have highlighted that FDI can harm women's wages based on their skill development than on males, causing the gender wage gap. In some countries where there are no law enforcement policies for wage discrimination can also lead to less bargaining power for women. Also, there is a difference between females and males' priorities, where females of under-developed countries are less empowered to make their own decisions, and due to the patriarchal fabric of society, they are associated with care-taking and managing the household as their primary duty. This causes less-commitment for female employees than male employees, and corporations tend to treat female workers differently than males. Since Uganda is an African country with fewer resources, thus more manufacturing and extraction businesses, the gender wage gap is higher as one of the studies in Mexico concluded that manufacturing overseas companies have higher wage disparities than other types of corporations.

Moreover, according to the Discrimination theory of 1957, in a competitive global market, females are exploited to pay them lesser than the males, hiring more cheap female workers showing discrimination towards them. Even one of the studies conducted randomly on 19 nations highlights the negative impact on women's wages of the FDI influx in the production areas. So, even though there has been an increase of female leaders and managers with the increase of FDI, there has also been an increase within the gender wage gap, showing that there has been discrimination on some levels in paying the women employees than the male employees.

Limitations of the study

The entire study is based upon the quantitative methodology of correlation to understand the linkages between the FDI, the independent variable, the percentage of female workers, the percentage of female leaders, and the gender wage disparity, all of which are dependent variables.

Quantitative Research Techniques renders multiple limitations to the study, including the acquisition of data for the study, which can be very difficult to obtain given the country's cultural and organizational barriers. In this study, the employees of Uganda were very hesitant to comply with the research methodologies. The limitation was reduced by assuring the employees that the study is only for academic purposes; however, the limitation still exists as there might be some biased, untruthful data received from them. However, the study assumes that the participants were highly truthful in their responses and participated in the study without any self-interest.

In such a Quantitative Study, more reliance is given to the secondary data collection methods than primary, which always poses a risk of being outdated or not being accessible easily. As primary data is tedious to gather for a bigger study scope, the secondary sources are relied upon, which are sometimes not easily accessible due to permission issues. Only limited authorities can access it, making it hugely difficult and challenging to acquire data for the study. Conversion of raw data to descriptive data also causes loss of relevant data. Such inaccessibility of some secondary data also proves challenging to reach a sound conclusion as the entire interpretation is based upon the data acquired and gathered through the sources available.

Even though the study has several limitations as that of any quantitative research study, the data acquired is reliable. The study conducted is kept as truthful as possible by convincing the employees who were hesitant to give out information and honest responses. Overall, the limitations are minimized by gathering data from various reliable and accessible sources to make the study consistent and reach towards the findings that can help address the research questions effectively.

Recommendations for further research

The current study establishes the relationship between the FDI and share of women employment, the gender wage gap, and the share of female leaders/managers of Uganda in comprehending the impact of FDIs on gender disparity in totality. FDI is the independent variable while the other factors being the dependent variable, showing how much of these factors are reliant or influenced by FDI, whether positively or negatively, or even if the FDIs have any control over these factors or not. This study propels for future studies as it lays ground that in Uganda, FDIs have increased the gender wage gap by 90%, it has increased the share of women leaders by 93% in the formal sector while it has created no negative or positive impact on the share of female employment. These relationships offer further analysis on the deeper impact of FDI on gender disparity within the geographical location, so the interlinks between the factors itself are studies, and detailed understating can be established to strongly conclude the type of impact FDIs have on countries like Uganda, which have their own external and internal barriers within them.

There have been certain limitations within the current study concerning the non-availability of research material related to the Ugandan population and gender inequality. The impact and influence FDI has on gender inequality are not only in Uganda but globally. There is a lack of direct research and large scale studies conducted for solely understanding the impact of FDI on gender disparity and address the research questions of whether FDI has a positive impact on gender equality in which women are given more share of employment with equal wages as their male competitors in the job market, reducing the gender inequality in the country, or negative impact where they exacerbate the gender disparity and owing to cheap labor availability and limited resource access of women, it exploits the labor market through creating more gender wage gap and inequality.

There has been no large scale research conducted for understating the factors that lead to creating the positive, negative, or no impact on gender disparity due to FDIs as there has been several small scale researches and multinational surveys conducted to understand the influence of FDI, which results in different case scenarios given the type of Multinational industries, cultural barriers and, other external and internal factors on which the study's conclusions are based. A large scale study taking the different factors into account and the external and internal barriers and the extent of effective and technological spillover due to these factors and the impact of FDI on gender inequality is measured quantitatively and qualitatively. Further studies should also understand how much gender disparity is controlled due to FDIs giving the external and internal factors in place.

The study has laid grounds for understanding various circumstantial factors which can alter the impact of FDI and showed how much of the developing nations where the women are already destitute and not as much skilled and qualified as the men of that country, how much these overseas corporations are willing to go against the cultural norms of that country and spread awareness for women empowerment, and how much are they willing to invest in training and educating those women to make them a part of their organization as FDIs settle within a country to reap its benefits like cost-effectiveness and profit maximization. Research including these factors in the study can further clarify the impact of FDIs on gender disparity as there has been little or no evidence-based research for understanding the direct and indirect impact that FDIs have and that FDIs create in reducing gender disparity.

Implications

Social Change

Individual

On an individual level, the Ugandan societies' females will focus more on educational opportunities to train themselves for opportunities created by FDI. Moreover, as the diffusion theory states, the feminists' movements have brought about equality between both genders, which translates into individuality and women empowerment within Uganda's women, aiding their personal development as more FDI increases within the country. Since they are in leadership and managerial positions due to the influx of FDI, they have better chances for individual growth and development. However, there still is no impact on the share of women in the workforce because of FDI as shown in the findings, which shows that majority of the women who are less qualified and not suitable for the leadership roles are still struggling to make ends meet, which is not adding to their individual development.

Familial

The household income will increase as the study conducted shows a significant relationship between the FDI and the female leaders/managers, showing that more females in leadership roles can bring about more income within the house, improving the living standards of those households. More female leaders/managers mean more empowered women in the household for training young children. Even though the gender wage gap has increased, more female leaders have increased, which increases the household income. However, the gender wage gap has increased, which shows that women are still not considered equal and discriminated against in the workplace, showing negative mental health aspects and affecting the familial bonds.

Organizational

As women are the biggest contributor to globalization as they are the ones who make the cultural transfer, they are an important asset for the organizations to benefit from. These multinationals can also benefit from CSR activities aimed at creating equal opportunities for men and women. It will also help Uganda accomplish its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), as more labor participation in the workforce will enhance overall economic development.