Bridging the gender gap: Women’s education and political representation

Luna Bellani and Marisa Hidalgo-Hidalgo

Economics of Education Review, 2025, vol. 104, issue C

Abstract: Gender disparity is present in many aspects of life, especially in politics. This paper provides new evidence on the impact of women’s education on political representation focusing on several European countries. We combine multi-country data from the Gender Statistics Database of the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) and from the European Social Survey (ESS). Using an IV strategy, we find that increased female education significantly increases the percentage of women elected to regional parliaments. We then explore possible channels at the individual level and find that education increases women’s interest in politics and induces more egalitarian views about gender roles in society among women, although it fails to do so among men.

Keywords: Education; Female political participation; Compulsory schooling reforms; ESS (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H52 I21 I23 J24 J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:104:y:2025:i:c:s0272775724000992

DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2024.102605

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