Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP14339
Authors: Sonia Bhalotra; Damian Clarke; Joseph Flavian Gomes; Atheendar Venkataramani
Abstract: Millions of women continue to die during and soon after childbirth, even where the knowledge and resources to avoid this are available. We posit that raising the share of women in parliament can trigger action. Leveraging the timing of gender quota legislation across developing countries, we identify sharp sustained reductions of 8-10 percent in maternal mortality. Investigating mechanisms, we find that gender quotas lead to increases in percentage points of 5-8 in skilled birth attendance and 4-8 in prenatal care utilization, alongside a decline in fertility of 6-7 percent and an increase in the schooling of young women of about 0.5 years. The results are robust to numerous robustness checks. They suggest a new policy tool for tackling maternal mortality.
Keywords: maternal mortality; women's political representation; gender quotas; reproductive health services; fertility; schooling
JEL Codes: I14; I15; O15
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Gender quotas (J16) | Share of parliamentary seats held by women (J16) |
| Share of parliamentary seats held by women (J16) | Maternal mortality ratios (MMR) (I14) |
| Gender quotas (J16) | Maternal mortality ratios (MMR) (I14) |
| Gender quotas (J16) | Skilled birth attendance (I11) |
| Gender quotas (J16) | Prenatal care utilization (J13) |
| Gender quotas (J16) | Fertility rates (J13) |
| Fertility rates (J13) | Maternal mortality ratios (MMR) (I14) |