Is the Expansion of Women’s Access to Political Leadership Rewarded? Evidence from the Allocation of US Foreign Aid

Do donor states reward recipient states for signaling a commitment to expanding the role of women in political decision making? Previous studies show that women are associated with positive outcomes for peace duration and governance. We theorize that donor states reward recipient states that make a commitment to women’s empowerment in political decision making and test our hypotheses using data on the distribution of US foreign aid to recipient states. We find that recipient states that adopt legislative quotas and include more women in their parliaments receive more aid, although a female head of government is not associated with more aid.