Empowering women brings change: The role of female cadres in enhancing elderly care public goods in Chinese villages

Against the backdrop of globalization, the role of women in political and social governance has garnered increasing attention. This study utilizes large-scale random sample data from the agricultural census and employs various treatment effect models to explore the impact of female cadres on the provision of elderly care public goods in villages and the underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal that female cadres significantly enhance the provision of elderly care public goods within villages. This result remains robust even after conducting various robustness tests and addressing endogeneity issues. Further investigation reveals significant heterogeneity in the impact of female cadres on elderly care public goods provision. In the eastern regions, female cadres have a greater absolute effect, while in the western regions, their marginal impact is more pronounced. Additionally, female cadres play a more significant role in villages with weaker collective action strength. We also explore the heterogeneous treatment effects related to the propensity scores of female cadres within villages. The impact, initially insignificant in villages with lower scores, becomes significant, positive, and stable as scores rise. The positive impact also varies significantly with the proportion of female cadres in the village, indicating an optimal ratio for maximizing their positive effect. The study also unveils that female cadres positively influence elderly care public goods provision by enhancing collective economy and playing a role in poverty reduction. These findings offer rich policy implications for maximizing the role of female cadres in the provision of elderly care public goods.