Together We Will

In many emerging democracies women are less likely to vote than men and, when they do vote, are likely to follow the wishes of male household and clan heads. We assess the impact of a voter awareness campaign on female turnout, candidate choice and party vote shares. Geographic clusters within villages were randomly assigned to treatment or control, and within treated clusters, some households were not targeted. Compared to women in control clusters, both targeted and untargeted women in treated clusters are 11 percentage points more likely to vote, and are also more likely to exercise independence in candidate choice, indicating large spillovers. Data from polling stations suggests that treating 10 women increased female turnout by about seven votes, resulting in a cost per vote of US$3.1. Finally, a 10 percent increase in the share of treated women at the polling station led to a 7 percent decrease in the share of votes of the winning party.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Giné, Xavier, Mansuri, Ghazala
Format: Journal Article biblioteca
Published: American Economic Association 2018-01
Subjects:VOTING BEHAVIOR, GENDER ECONOMICS, FEMALE TURNOUT, VOTER AWARENESS CAMPAIGN, INDEPENDENT CHOICE,
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10986/29652
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!