Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP17637
Authors: Michele Tertilt; Matthias Doepke; Laura Montenbruck; Anne Hannusch
Abstract: Two centuries ago, in most countries around the world, women were unable to vote, had no say over their own children or property, and could not obtain a divorce. Women have gradually gained rights in many areas of life, and this legal expansion has been closely intertwined with economic development. We aim to understand the drivers behind these reforms. To this end, we distinguish between four types of women’s rights---economic, political, labor, and body---and document their evolution over the past 50 years across countries. We summarize the political-economy mechanisms that link economic development to changes in women's rights and show empirically that these mechanisms account for a large share of the variation in women's rights across countries and over time.
Keywords: Women's Rights; Female Suffrage; Family Economics; Bargaining; Political Economy
JEL Codes: D13; D72; E24; J12; J16; N4; N30; O10; O43
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Economic development (GDP per capita) (O49) | women's rights (J16) |
| Total fertility rate (J13) | economic development (GDP per capita) (O29) |
| Total fertility rate (J13) | women's rights (J16) |
| Women's labor force participation (J21) | women's rights (J16) |
| Decline in total fertility rate by one child (J13) | increase in economic rights index (O17) |
| Increase in female labor force participation by 10 percentage points (J21) | increase in economic rights index (O17) |
| Decline in total fertility rate by one child (J13) | increase in political rights index (P26) |
| Economic development (GDP per capita) (O49) | women's rights (diminished in Muslim or Buddhist majorities) (J16) |