Female Policymakers and Educational Expenditures: Cross-Country Evidence

This paper investigates the inuence of women in politics on decision-making using public educa-tional expenditures as the outcome of interest. The results suggest that an increase in the share of female legislators by one percentage point increases the ratio of educational expenditures to GDP by 0.028 percentage points. I then consider some contexts, on which the inuence of female legislators may depend. The e¤ect of female legislators on educational policies is strengthened accounting for forms of government, but not inuenced by left-wing government, electoral rules, parliamentary system and non-marriage. Moreover, this study supports the hypothesis that the identity of the legislator matters for policy