Fighting violence against women: The role of female political representation

Alena Bochenkova, Paolo Buonanno and Sergio Galletta

Journal of Development Economics, 2023, vol. 164, issue C

Abstract: We investigate the effect of women’s political leadership in local government on domestic violence against women. Using a regression discontinuity design, we compare Brazilian municipalities where a female candidate barely won to those where a female candidate barely lost mayoral elections. We find that the presence of a female mayor leads to a 50% average reduction in both the homicide rate and violence against women over a four-year term. These results are not attributable to pre-existing municipal characteristics or other observable mayor attributes. Collectively, our findings offer compelling evidence that women in office play a significant role in effectively addressing violence against women.

Keywords: Female politicians; Gender; Femicide; Violence; Brazil; RDD (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D72 J16 K42 N36 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:deveco:v:164:y:2023:i:c:s0304387823000950

DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2023.103140

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