Does women's representation in elected office lead to women-friendly policy? Analysis of state-level data

This project assesses the relationship between women's representation and women-friendly policies across the states while controlling for several factors, including voter turnout, institutional resources for women, attitudes toward women's roles, labor force participation, and the strength of the two major political parties. It identifies a two-staged process in which party dominance and attitudes about women in politics influence levels of women's representation; women's representation and party dominance then influence levels of women-friendly policy. The findings are stronger for women's legislative and Democratic representation than for women's executive and Republican representation, although women Republicans are nonetheless important to advancing women-friendly policy.