Maternal Mortality and Women's Political Participation

Sonia Bhalotra (), Damian Clarke (), Joseph Gomes and Atheendar Venkataramani

No 14339, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: We show that large declines in maternal mortality can be achieved by raising women's political participation. We estimate that the recent wave of quotas for women in parliament in low income countries has resulted in a 9 to 12% decline in maternal mortality. Among mechanisms are that gender quotas lead to an 8 to 10% increase in skilled birth attendance, a 6 to 12% increase in prenatal care utilization and a 4 to 11% decrease in birth rates.

Keywords: Gender; Maternal mortality; Quotas; reproductive health services; women's political representation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I14 I15 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-hea
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Related works:
Working Paper: Maternal Mortality and Women's Political Participation (2018)
Working Paper: Maternal mortality and women's political participation (2018)
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