Female Leadership and Early Childhood Education: Impacts on Access and Quality

Isabela Fernandes Matos Lima () and Paula Carvalho Pereda ()

No 2026_29, Working Papers, Department of Economics from University of São Paulo (FEA-USP)

Abstract: This paper investigates whether female political leadership affects access to and quality of early childhood education in Brazilian municipalities. We employ a regression discontinuity design exploiting close municipal elections between male and female candidates in the 2016 mayoral races. The results indicate that municipalities that narrowly elected a female mayor experienced a modest but statistically significant increase in daycare enrollment rates at the beginning of the term, suggesting a short-run expansion in access. In contrast, evidence regarding quality indicators, such as teacher qualifications and class size, is more limited and generally not robust across specifications.

Keywords: Elections; Female leadership; Childhood education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C21 D72 I21 I28 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-09-16
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