Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/337670 
Year of Publication: 
2026
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 1722
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
This paper studies the causal impact of female political representation on legislative behavior, social attitudes, and gender-based crime. Using a regression discontinuity design based on close mixed-gender electoral contests, we compare electorates that narrowly elected female versus male candidates. We link computational text analysis of parliamentary debates, roll-call votes, post-election survey responses, and administrative police records from 2010 to 2022 in Australia. We document three main findings. First, female MPs devote significantly more attention to gender-related issues in parliamentary speech and are more likely to support gender-related legislation, including measures addressing gender-based violence, with no evidence of differential voting absence. Second, exposure to a narrowly elected female MP shifts constituent attitudes toward greater support for women's rights. Third, electorates that narrowly elect a female MP experience a statistically and economically meaningful decline in gendered crime rates during the subsequent term. Together, the results indicate that female representation can shape policy priorities, social attitudes, and downstream gendered outcomes, even within a disciplined party system.
Subjects: 
Female political representation
Legislative behaviour
Public attitudes
Gender-based crime
Regression discontinuity design
JEL: 
J16
D72
I38
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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