Women at work in Saudi Arabia: Impact of ICT diffusion and financial development

Abstract We investigate the determinants of female labor force participation in Saudi Arabia , where religion and natural resources play a significant role in defining the social and economic parameters. Using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds test, we provide evidence that the supply of female labor and increased cost of living promote female labor force participation; while diffusion of information communication technology (ICT), membership of Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), oil resources, supply of foreign labor force, and the size of the government hinder it. We also show that financial development alters the negative impacts of ICT diffusion, CEDAW membership, and size of service economy on the female labor force participation.