IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v171y2016icp48-57.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Female political representation and child health: Evidence from a multilevel analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Quamruzzaman, Amm
  • Lange, Matthew

Abstract

This article explores the impact of female political representation in national parliaments on child health through a multilevel analysis. Using available Demographic and Health Surveys, we employ both cross-sectional data for 51 low- and middle-income countries and longitudinal data for 20 countries with multiple surveys. For both the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, female representation is negatively related to infant mortality and positively related to measles vaccination status. To explore potential mechanisms, we control for state spending on health and analyze whether the impact of female representation depends on a critical mass of female representatives. The analysis offers evidence that state spending accounts for some of the mediation effect and that the impact of female representation on infant death depends on a critical mass.

Suggested Citation

  • Quamruzzaman, Amm & Lange, Matthew, 2016. "Female political representation and child health: Evidence from a multilevel analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 48-57.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:171:y:2016:i:c:p:48-57
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.10.025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616305937
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.10.025?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. United Nations UN, 2015. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015," Working Papers id:7097, eSocialSciences.
    2. Saifuddin Ahmed & Andreea A Creanga & Duff G Gillespie & Amy O Tsui, 2010. "Economic Status, Education and Empowerment: Implications for Maternal Health Service Utilization in Developing Countries," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 5(6), pages 1-6, June.
    3. Doan, Rebecca Miles & Bisharat, Leila, 1990. "Female autonomy and child nutritional status: The extended-family residential unit in Amman, Jordan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 783-789, January.
    4. Kawachi, I. & Kennedy, B.P. & Glass, R., 1999. "Social capital and self-rated health: A contextual analysis," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(8), pages 1187-1193.
    5. Dreher, Axel & Gehring, Kai & Klasen, Stephan, 2015. "Gesture Politics or Real Commitment? Gender Inequality and the Allocation of Aid," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 464-480.
    6. Osmani, Siddiq & Sen, Amartya, 2003. "The hidden penalties of gender inequality: fetal origins of ill-health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 105-121, January.
    7. Shelah Bloom & David Wypij & Monica Gupta, 2001. "Dimensions of women’s autonomy and the influence on maternal health care utilization in a north indian city," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 67-78, February.
    8. Sonia Bhalotra & Irma Clots-Figueras, 2014. "Health and the Political Agency of Women," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 6(2), pages 164-197, May.
    9. World Bank, 2016. "World Development Indicators 2016," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 23969.
    10. Barrera, Albino, 1990. "The role of maternal schooling and its interaction with public health programs in child health production," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 69-91, January.
    11. United Nations UN, 2015. "The Millennium Development Goals Report 2015," Working Papers id:7222, eSocialSciences.
    12. Raghabendra Chattopadhyay & Esther Duflo, 2004. "Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in India," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(5), pages 1409-1443, September.
    13. Deon Filmer & Lant Pritchett, 2001. "Estimating Wealth Effects Without Expenditure Data—Or Tears: An Application To Educational Enrollments In States Of India," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 38(1), pages 115-132, February.
    14. Gravelle, Hugh & Wildman, John & Sutton, Matthew, 2002. "Income, income inequality and health: what can we learn from aggregate data?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 54(4), pages 577-589, February.
    15. Abadian, Sousan, 1996. "Women's autonomy and its impact on fertility," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(12), pages 1793-1809, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Foudjo, Suzie Imelda & Keneck-Massil, Joseph, 2024. "Climate vulnerability and child health outcomes in developing countries: Do women's political empowerment and female education make the difference?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 351(C).
    2. Kumar, Santosh & Prakash, Nishith, 2017. "Effect of political decentralization and female leadership on institutional births and child mortality in rural Bihar, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 171-178.
    3. Miller, Michael & Toffolutti, Veronica & Reeves, Aaron, 2018. "The enduring influence of institutions on universal health coverage: An empirical investigation of 62 former colonies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 270-287.
    4. Ross Macmillan & Naila Shofia & Wendy Sigle, 2018. "Gender and the Politics of Death: Female Representation, Political and Developmental Context, and Population Health in a Cross-National Panel," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 55(5), pages 1905-1934, October.
    5. Rustagi, Niharika & Akter, Sonia, 2022. "The impact of women's political representation on child health outcomes during 1990–2020: Evidence from a global dataset," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    6. Ziroat Mirziyoyeva & Raufhon Salahodjaev, 2022. "Women’s Parliamentary Representation and Sustainable Development Goals: a Cross-Country Evidence," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(2), pages 871-883, April.
    7. Reeves, Aaron & Mackenbach, Johan P., 2019. "Can inequalities in political participation explain health inequalities?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 234(C), pages 1-1.
    8. Homan, Patricia, 2017. "Political gender inequality and infant mortality in the United States, 1990–2012," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 182(C), pages 127-135.
    9. Hamid Noghanibehambari & Farzaneh Noghani, 2023. "Long‐run intergenerational health benefits of women empowerment: Evidence from suffrage movements in the US," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(11), pages 2583-2631, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mavisakalyan, Astghik & Tarverdi, Yashar, 2019. "Gender and climate change: Do female parliamentarians make difference?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 151-164.
    2. Sheilla Nyasha Author-Name: Yvonne Gwenhure & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2017. "Poverty and Economic Growth in Ethiopia: A Multivariate Causal Linkage," Journal of Developing Areas, Tennessee State University, College of Business, vol. 51(1), pages 343-359, January-M.
    3. Tesfalidet Tekelab & Catherine Chojenta & Roger Smith & Deborah Loxton, 2019. "Factors affecting utilization of antenatal care in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(4), pages 1-24, April.
    4. Renato Vargas & Pamela Escobar & Maynor Cabrera & Javier Cabrera & Violeta Hernández & Vivian Guzmán & Martin Cicowiez, 2017. "Climate risk and food security in Guatemala," Working Papers MPIA 2017-01, PEP-MPIA.
    5. Arndt, Channing & Mahrt, Kristi & Hussain, M. Azhar & Tarp, Finn, 2018. "A human rights-consistent approach to multidimensional welfare measurement applied to sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 181-196.
    6. Derek Asuman & Charles Godfred Ackah & Frank Agyire-Tettey, 2021. "Disability and Household Welfare in Ghana: Costs and Correlates," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 42(4), pages 633-649, December.
    7. Kyoko Shimamoto & Jessica D Gipson, 2019. "Investigating pathways linking women’s status and empowerment to skilled attendance at birth in Tanzania: A structural equation modeling approach," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-16, February.
    8. Thapa, Deependra Kaji & Niehof, Anke, 2013. "Women's autonomy and husbands' involvement in maternal health care in Nepal," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 1-10.
    9. Shroff, Monal R. & Griffiths, Paula L. & Suchindran, Chirayath & Nagalla, Balakrishna & Vazir, Shahnaz & Bentley, Margaret E., 2011. "Does maternal autonomy influence feeding practices and infant growth in rural India?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(3), pages 447-455, August.
    10. Sinha, Aakanksha & McRoy, Ruth G. & Berkman, Barbara & Sutherland, Melissa, 2017. "Drivers of change: Examining the effects of gender equality on child nutrition," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 203-212.
    11. Díaz Serrano, Lluís & Sackey, Frank G., 2016. "Do political regime transitions in Africa Matter for Citizens’ Health Status," Working Papers 2072/267086, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Department of Economics.
    12. Arindam Nandi & Ashvin Ashok & Ramanan Laxminarayan, 2013. "The Socioeconomic and Institutional Determinants of Participation in India’s Health Insurance Scheme for the Poor," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(6), pages 1-13, June.
    13. Diana K. L. Ngo & Luc Christiaensen, 2019. "The Performance Of A Consumption Augmented Asset Index In Ranking Households And Identifying The Poor," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 65(4), pages 804-833, December.
    14. Andrea Guariso & Bert Ingelaere & Marijke Verpoorten, 2017. "Female political representation in the aftermath of ethnic violence: A comparative analysis of Burundi and Rwanda," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2017-74, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    15. Ismaila Rimi Abubakar, 2017. "Access to Sanitation Facilities among Nigerian Households: Determinants and Sustainability Implications," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-17, April.
    16. McCoy, Dana Charles & Salhi, Carmel & Yoshikawa, Hirokazu & Black, Maureen & Britto, Pia & Fink, Günther, 2018. "Home- and center-based learning opportunities for preschoolers in low- and middle-income countries," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 44-56.
    17. Hoffman, Lauren A. & Ngo, Truc T., 2018. "Affordable solar thermal water heating solution for rural Dominican Republic," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 1220-1230.
    18. Andrea Guariso & Bert Ingelaere & Marijke Verpoorten, 2018. "When Ethnicity Beats Gender: Quotas and Political Representation in Rwanda and Burundi," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 49(6), pages 1361-1391, November.
    19. Basu, Arnab & Dimova, Ralitza & Gbakou, Monnet & Viennet, Romane, 2023. "Parental risk preferences, maternal bargaining power, and the educational progressions of children: Lab-in-the-field evidence from rural Côte d'Ivoire," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    20. Andrea Guariso & Bert Ingelaere & Marijke Verpoorten, 2017. " Female political representation in the aftermath of ethnic voilence. A comparative analysis of Burundi and Rwanda," Working Papers of LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance 610137, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), LICOS - Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:171:y:2016:i:c:p:48-57. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.