Women's Representation and Development Assistance

Does women's representation affect the state's emphasis on development assistance? Earlier studies have found gender differences in foreign policy preferences. This study builds on that literature and advances two hypotheses regarding the impact of women's presence in national legislatures on the state's development assistance policy: (1) The women's values thesis builds on a literature that argues that women emphasize peace and social justice; (2) The social equity thesis suggests that a societal value favoring equity, as expressed in social democracies, may in fact explain both women's representation and development assistance. The empirical evidence includes data for three electoral cycles in seventeen donor states and demonstrates that women's representation and development assistance are indeed related. Although the evidence suggests a direct impact, some caveats are discussed.