Does Critical Mass Matter? Women's Political Representation and Child Health in Developing Countries

Political gender inequality and infant mortality in the United States, 1990–2012

“…This strategy parallels that of cross-national work which typically includes a dummy variable representing left-party in power (Bolzendahl, 2009; Quamruzzaman and Lange, 2016; Swiss et al, 2012). The partisan control variables are not included in the main models in Table 3 because they do not have a statistically significant relationship to IMRs and because they require the exclusion of all observations for Nebraska due to its non-partisan legislature.…”

“…There also is general consensus that improving women’s social and economic position benefits their children (Heaton, 2015; World Bank, 2003). Several aspects of child well-being-- including nutrition, immunization rates, child mortality under age five, and infant mortality-- are associated with various measures of women’s status (Heaton, 2015; Pratley, 2016; Swiss et al, 2012). In particular, cross-national comparative work focused on the determinants of IMRs in less-developed countries has repeatedly linked higher women’s literacy rates and educational attainment to reductions in infant mortality (Boehmer and Williamson, 1996; Caldwell, 1986; Frey and Field, 2000; Shandra et al, 2004; Shen and Williamson, 2001).…”

“…In particular, cross-national comparative work focused on the determinants of IMRs in less-developed countries has repeatedly linked higher women’s literacy rates and educational attainment to reductions in infant mortality (Boehmer and Williamson, 1996; Caldwell, 1986; Frey and Field, 2000; Shandra et al, 2004; Shen and Williamson, 2001). Some of these studies also identified a negative relationship between women’s political empowerment (as measured by parliamentary seats and suffrage rights) and IMRs (Boehmer and Williamson, 1996; Quamruzzaman and Lange, 2016; Swiss et al, 2012). Finally, Boehmer and Williamson (1996) also found that IMRs in less developed countries were associated with a broad overall measure of gender inequality, which reflected women’s status across several domains including political, economic, legal, marriage and family, and discrimination.…”

“…Studies in the developing world that identified a relationship between political gender inequality and IMRs focused specifically on women’s legislative representation and measured the percentage of national parliamentary seats that were occupied by women (e.g. Quamruzzaman and Lange, 2016; Swiss et al, 2012). Both prior U.S. studies employed an index of “political participation” that combined women’s representation in elected offices with levels of women’s voter registration and women’s voter turn-out.…”

The Effectiveness of Foreign Aid to Women's Equality Organisations in the MENA

“…In the MENA region, in particular, there is currently (as of April 2013) only one country, Algeria, where women hold at least 30 per cent (31.6 per cent) of the seats in the lower house 3 (Table A3). Women in most MENA countries tend to be denied the opportunity to influence parliamentary debates and laws, given that in order to be able to make an impact in these areas, a critical mass of women in national parliaments (especially in the lower house) is needed (Childs & Krook, 2008;Swiss, Fallon & Burgos, 2012).…”