Women’s Representation in State Legislatures and Women-Friendly Policy Outcomes

Authors

Hoan La, Texas Tech UniversityFollow

Abstract

This paper adds to the literature on the relationship between women's representation and policy outcomes. The literature argues that female legislators are more likely than male colleagues to support policies that benefit women, children, and families. Therefore, increasing women's representation in legislative bodies will likely result in more policy outcomes that reflect women's interests. This paper employs data from 50 U.S. state legislatures in three years: 2010, 2015, and 2020 to examine the relationship between female legislators and women-friendly policies. The analysis indicates that female legislators play an important role in introducing, discussing, and debating women-friendly bills but have yet to be in their passage. In addition, the results show that the impact of gender on policy outcomes is conditioned by party control of legislatures and the proportion of women in legislatures. Specifically, female legislators have a greater impact on policy outcomes under Democratic-controlled legislatures and when they account for over 30 percent of state legislators.

Recommended Citation

La, Hoan (2023) "Women’s Representation in State Legislatures and Women-Friendly Policy Outcomes," Commonwealth Review of Political Science: Vol. 6: No. 1, Article 1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.61611/2994-0044.1041
Available at: https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/crps/vol6/iss1/1