Chapter : 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...

…the progression of society.

Recommendations for Practice

Even though FDI has strong relations with the gender wage gap, there needs to be more research to understand the factors that led to the gender wage gap because of FDI. Also, the linkage between the wage gap and managerial positions' pay scale for males and females needs to be analyzed to understand whether the discrepancy is raised due to the direct association of female leaders' increase in the wage gap.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the study highlights the important aspects of gender disparity and its association with the influx of FDI within Uganda. With the economic advancement that Uganda is experiencing due to FDI inflows within the country, the study explores the societal impact by understanding its relationship with the gender disparity that already exists within the country. Several peer-reviewed articles are explored to understand the various barriers and factors have caused FDI to create positive or negative impact within the country related to gender equality. This study proves to be important as there have been fewer accounts showing that FDI can have a negative impact or no in the country in terms of gender equality as the majority of the study has established FDIs to be a source of women empowerment gender equality in the country. It is not the same with Uganda, where the study shows that even though there has been a surge in women leaders within the workforce due to FDI, the gender wage gap has also been highly amplified. This shows that economic progression due to FDIs does not necessarily translate into reducing gender disparity and escalating overall societal growth. The study further opens the gateways for future understanding and research on different aspects that influence or restrict the positive or negative impact within the country to understand the impact of FDI on gender…