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Women in Political Bodies as Policymakers

Author

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  • Baskaran, Thushyanthan

    (Ruhr University Bochum)

  • Hessami, Zohal

    (Ruhr University Bochum)

Abstract

We investigate how female representation impacts policymaking using the example of child care and new hand-collected data on local council elections in Bavaria. RDD estimations (mixed-gender races for last party-specific council seats) show that an additional female councilor accelerates the expansion of public child care by 40%. We also document an important nonlinearity: an additional woman accelerates the expansion of child care only in councils with few women. Council meeting minutes reveal that women can be effective in councils despite being a non-pivotal minority because they change "the conversation".

Suggested Citation

  • Baskaran, Thushyanthan & Hessami, Zohal, 2023. "Women in Political Bodies as Policymakers," IZA Discussion Papers 15983, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15983
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Jain, Chandan & Nandwani, Bharti, 2024. "Female representation in school management and school quality," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 84-103.
    3. Emilia Brito & Jesse Bruhn & Thea How Choon & E. Anna Weber, 2024. "Gender Composition and Group Behavior: Evidence from US City Councils.," Working Papers 2024-002, Brown University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    local councils; political selection; gender composition; child care;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation
    • H70 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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