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There has been a phenomenal global increase in the proportion of women in politics in the last 20 years. While there is evidence that raising the share of women politicians has substantive impacts on the composition of government spending, there is scarcely any evidence of how it influences economic performance. We investigate this using comprehensive data on competitive elections to India's state legislative assemblies, exploiting close elections between men and women to isolate the causal effect of legislator gender in a regression discontinuity design. We identify significantly higher growth in economic activity in constituencies that elect women. Probing mechanisms, we find evidence that women legislators are less likely to be criminal and corrupt, more efficacious, and less vulnerable to political opportunism. We find no evidence of negative spillovers to neighbouring (male-led) constituencies, consistent with net growth.

There has been a phenomenal global increase in the proportion of women in politics in the last two decades, but there is no evidence of how this influences economic performance. We investigate this using data on competitive elections to India's state assemblies, leveraging close elections to isolate causal effects. We find significantly higher growth in economic activity in constituencies that elect women and no evidence of negative spillovers to neighbouring male-led constituencies, consistent with net growth. Probing mechanisms, we find that women legislators are less likely to be criminal and corrupt, more efficacious, and less vulnerable to political opportunism.

Abstract There has been a phenomenal global increase in the proportion of women in politics in the last two decades, but there is no evidence of how this has influenced economic performance. We investigate this using data on competitive elections to India's state assemblies, leveraging close elections to isolate causal effects. We find significantly higher growth in economic activity in constituencies that elect women and no evidence of negative spillovers to neighbouring male-led constituencies, consistent with net growth. Probing mechanisms, we find evidence consistent with women legislators being more efficacious, less corrupt and less vulnerable to political opportunism.

This study evaluates the impact of women state legislators on state abortion policies. Two dimensions of state abortion policy were identified and it was found that women state legislators, once they reach a critical mass within the legislature, can affect state policies on regulations concerning parental notification of abortions, but not public funding. But women legislators, and especially women Democratic legislators, can affect state abortion policies in other ways that are less well understood. Through an analysis of post- Webster abortion bills it was found that women representatives secure committee assignments that allow them to block pro-life legislation. This is especially pronounced in states with few women legislators and states most likely (according to other studies) to support policies restricting choice.

Women remain poorly represented in Congress and state legislatures throughout the United States, but the under‐representation of women in the states of the Old South remain significantly greater than in nonsouthern states. This article examines the question of southern women's under‐representation in Congress and state legislatures. The literature on women's representation reviewed in this article indicates that the traditional political culture and the patriarchal social culture of the Old South have hampered and continue to restrict the election of women from the Old South at both the national and state levels. In addition to reviewing the literature on representation, this article provides recent statistics on the representation of women in legislatures in the United States.

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION -- CHAPTER 2. What Gets Women Elected -- CHAPTER 3. Elected Women's Paths to Power -- CHAPTER 4. Elected Women as Legislators and Representatives -- CHAPTER 5. Women and Democratization in Central America -- CHAPTER 6. Public Policy -- APPENDIX A. Methodology -- APPENDIX B. Interview Schedule for Elected Women Legislators -- NOTES -- GLOSSARY -- REFERENCES -- INDEX