Effects of Gender Composition in Committees

We investigate if, and how, the gender composition of a committee affects its decisions and dynamics, using meeting transcripts of the Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) from 1978 to 2014, wherein the committee's decisions, deliberations and individual voting patterns are observable. We find that higher female representation does not significantly affect the committee's decisions, when accounting for the individual characteristics and contextual factors. However, meetings with more women covered a broader set of topics and more active dialogues from male members, potentially leading to more thorough discussions and increased legitimacy of the committee's decisions