Gender Gaps in Policy Making: Evidence from Direct Democracy in Switzerland

Abstract:     
Despite the increasing importance of women in politics, little is known about their impact on actual policies. This paper uses a unique data set on voting decisions to shed new light on gender gaps in policy making. Our analysis focuses on Switzerland, where all citizens can directly decide on a broad range of policies through referendums and initiatives. We show that women prefer different policies in the areas of health, environmental protection, the military and welfare policy which typically persist even conditional on socio-economic characteristics. We also find that female policy makers have a substantial effect on the composition of public spending, but a small effect on the overall size of government.

Keywords: Female Policy Makers, Political Gender Gaps, Switzerland

JEL Classifications: H11, H31, H50, D72

Working Paper Series