In a study of 50 countries, OEF's Research Associate Curtis Bell found that when a woman becomes a country's chief executive, the country starts electing more women to legislature. That's a finding that persists even after accounting for confounding factors like gender quotas and greater economic opportunities for women.
Whether or not it's an effect that will continue for decades to come remains to be seen, but for now, the data tells us that once democracies have had a female leader, they have on average 4% more women in legislatures than countries that have not had one, enough to influence legislation.
Read Dr. Bell's article in the Washington Post's Monkey Cage blog.
