TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Danzer, Natalia
AU  - Garcia-Torres, Sebastian
AU  - Steinhardt, Max F.
AU  - Stella, Luca
        TI  - Women in Political Power and School Closure during COVID Times
        PY  - 2023/Feb/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 15975
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp15975
        AB  - This study explores the relationship between women's representation in political power and school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using a cross-country dataset in Europe, we document a striking negative relationship between the share of female members in national governments and school closures. We show that a one standard deviation increase in female members of national governments is associated with a reduction in the likelihood of school lockdowns by 24% relative to the average share of school closures. 
This result is robust to an extensive set of sensitivity checks. We attribute this pattern to a higher awareness of female politicians about the potential costs that school closures imply for families. 
        KW  - gender
KW  - COVID-19
KW  - school closures
KW  - political economy
        ER  -