There has been a phenomenal global increase in the proportion of women in politics in the last 20 years. While there is … evidence that raising the share of women politicians has substantive impacts on the composition of government spending, there … competitive elections to India's state legislative assemblies, exploiting close elections between men and women to isolate the …

Raising women's political participation leads to faster maternal mortality decline. We estimate that the introduction … of quotas for women in parliament results in a 9-12 per cent decline in maternal mortality. In terms of mechanisms, it … longer exposure to women's suffrage. …