Advancing SDG 5 Through Firm‐Level Inclusion: Gender, Workforce Composition, and Enterprise Resilience in Latin America

ABSTRACT

Achieving gender equality under Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) requires moving beyond aggregate indicators to understand how inclusion operates within firms and relates to organizational outcomes. This study examines the relationship between multidimensional gender inclusion and enterprise resilience using firm‐level data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys across 15 Latin American countries during 2017–2023. Enterprise resilience is conceptualized as the ability of firms to withstand, adapt to, and recover from operational and environmental shocks. Gender inclusion is captured through female ownership, female managers, and female workforce share. The study employs a multi‐method empirical strategy comprising ordinary least squares, propensity score matching, quantile regression, and interaction models. The findings reveal a positive and robust association between gender inclusion and enterprise resilience. Firms characterized by greater gender inclusion consistently exhibit lower reported operational disruptions, greater performance stability, and higher operational continuity. The results further indicate substantial heterogeneity across firms, with stronger associations observed among firms exhibiting lower initial levels of resilience. Additional evidence indicates that firms with higher levels of multidimensional gender inclusion exhibit greater observed resilience under conditions characterized by infrastructure deficiencies and financial constraints. By providing firm‐level evidence from Latin America, the study extends the literature on gender inclusion beyond traditional firm performance outcomes and contributes to emerging research on enterprise resilience and sustainable development. Overall, the findings suggest that multidimensional gender inclusion is consistently associated with enterprise resilience and therefore represents an important consideration for broader sustainable development strategies.