Female political representation and child health: Evidence from a multilevel analysis

- The first multilevel analysis testing the relationship between female representation and child health.
- Female political representation is related to improvements in child health.
- State spending on child health accounts for some of this relationship.
- A critical mass of female representatives might be needed for some child health outcomes.

This article explores the impact of female political representation in national parliaments on child health through a multilevel analysis. Using available Demographic and Health Surveys, we employ both cross-sectional data for 51 low- and middle-income countries and longitudinal data for 20 countries with multiple surveys. For both the cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses, female representation is negatively related to infant mortality and positively related to measles vaccination status. To explore potential mechanisms, we control for state spending on health and analyze whether the impact of female representation depends on a critical mass of female representatives. The analysis offers evidence that state spending accounts for some of the mediation effect and that the impact of female representation on infant death depends on a critical mass.