Mind the gap: gender equality and economic empowerment in the Commonwealth

Sangeeta Khorana; Santiago Caram

doi:10.1080/00358533.2025.2607588

Mind the gap: gender equality and economic empowerment in the Commonwealth

Sangeeta Khorana
, Santiago Caram

Bournemouth University Business School

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This article examines gender inequality in economic participation across the Commonwealth countries from 2008 to 2023. Using secondary data, differences in factors such as wages, leadership, enterprise ownership, digital skills and legal protection are explored. Findings show that while legal reforms have been initiated in some countries, progress is uneven, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Results indicate that a combination of legal frameworks, training and digital access supports gender equality. From the policy perspective, coordinated action to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 and 8 is suggested, as this will support female empowerment and equality across the Commonwealth countries.

Original language	English
Number of pages	18
Journal	The Round Table
Early online date	28 Jan 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/00358533.2025.2607588
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 28 Jan 2026

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

Keywords

Commonwealth
gender equality
empowerment
SDGs

Access to Document

10.1080/00358533.2025.2607588Licence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Mind the gap gender equality and economic empowerment in the Commonwealth
Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
Final published version, 1.31 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Cite this

@article{f3c2bb7c0524494e89b2915d80bcc801,

title = "Mind the gap: gender equality and economic empowerment in the Commonwealth",

abstract = "This article examines gender inequality in economic participation across the Commonwealth countries from 2008 to 2023. Using secondary data, differences in factors such as wages, leadership, enterprise ownership, digital skills and legal protection are explored. Findings show that while legal reforms have been initiated in some countries, progress is uneven, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Results indicate that a combination of legal frameworks, training and digital access supports gender equality. From the policy perspective, coordinated action to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 and 8 is suggested, as this will support female empowerment and equality across the Commonwealth countries.",

keywords = "Commonwealth, gender equality, empowerment, SDGs",

author = "Sangeeta Khorana and Santiago Caram",

note = "Copyright {\textcopyright} 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor \& Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.",

year = "2026",

month = jan,

day = "28",

doi = "10.1080/00358533.2025.2607588",

language = "English",

journal = "The Round Table",

issn = "0035-8533",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Mind the gap: gender equality and economic empowerment in the Commonwealth

AU - Khorana, Sangeeta

AU - Caram, Santiago

N1 - Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.

PY - 2026/1/28

Y1 - 2026/1/28

N2 - This article examines gender inequality in economic participation across the Commonwealth countries from 2008 to 2023. Using secondary data, differences in factors such as wages, leadership, enterprise ownership, digital skills and legal protection are explored. Findings show that while legal reforms have been initiated in some countries, progress is uneven, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Results indicate that a combination of legal frameworks, training and digital access supports gender equality. From the policy perspective, coordinated action to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 and 8 is suggested, as this will support female empowerment and equality across the Commonwealth countries.

AB - This article examines gender inequality in economic participation across the Commonwealth countries from 2008 to 2023. Using secondary data, differences in factors such as wages, leadership, enterprise ownership, digital skills and legal protection are explored. Findings show that while legal reforms have been initiated in some countries, progress is uneven, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Results indicate that a combination of legal frameworks, training and digital access supports gender equality. From the policy perspective, coordinated action to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 5 and 8 is suggested, as this will support female empowerment and equality across the Commonwealth countries.

KW - Commonwealth

KW - gender equality

KW - empowerment

KW - SDGs

UR - https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00358533.2025.2607588

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105029239708&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/00358533.2025.2607588

DO - 10.1080/00358533.2025.2607588

M3 - Article

SN - 0035-8533

JO - The Round Table

JF - The Round Table

ER -

Mind the gap: gender equality and economic empowerment in the Commonwealth

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this