The School of Economics invites you to an applied seminar by Damian Clarke (Universidad de Santiago de Chile).

Maternal Mortality and Women’s Political Participation

Co-authors:
Sonia Bhalotra (University of Essex), Joseph Gomes (University of Navarra) and Atheendar Venkataramani (University of Pennsylvania)

Abstract

We show that large declines in maternal mortality can be achieved by raising women’s political participation. We estimate that the recent wave of quotas for women in parliament in low income countries has resulted in a 9 to 12% decline in maternal mortality. Among mechanisms are that gender quotas lead to an 8 to 10% increase in skilled birth attendance, a 6 to 12% increase in prenatal care utilization and a 4 to 11% decrease in birth rates.