Female leaders and gendered laws: A long-term global perspective

Abstract

Leaders do matter in formulating legal foundations that affect society’s path of development. If these laws are gender discriminatory, they hinder the development of groups adversely affected by the system. This study empirically examines the relationship between female leaders and gendered laws in 190 countries between 1970 and 2020. We find that female leaders have been positively associated with enhancing gender equality in the legal system over the past five decades. Their effects on gender equality are heterogeneous, with higher positive impacts when their terms of office are longer. The effects are noticeable both in regions of high economic and social development and high legal gender disparity. Moreover, the results remain robust under multiple specifications of the period. Our findings suggest that individual female leaders can play a crucial role in shaping legal equality between men and women.