Do women in power avoid making cuts to child welfare during an economic recession?

Abstract

Economic recession puts additional pressure on the welfare distribution debate. This paper examines the influence of female municipal council members on child-friendly policy imple‐ mentation during the 2009 economic recession. We analyse the case of 224 municipalities in a post-socialist country. The longitudinal character of the study provides a broader understand‐ ing of women’s role in public management. The results show that the proportion of women in power increased, and this increase was associated with the rise of child-friendly politics. The gender effect on child-friendliness remained even after controlling for population size, the municipality’s fiscal resources, poverty, the proportion of children in population, and political parties represented in local municipal councils. However, the impact of demographic and fis‐ cal situation was stronger on the child-friendliness than the gender of council members.